A woman who claimed that a Queens cop texted himself private pictures of her from her cellphone, settled a suit with the city for $45,000, reports the NY Daily News.
NYPD Officer Sean Christian was the police officer who had the charges filed against him. This isn’t the only punishment meted out to this law enforcer, however. Last year, he pleaded guilty to departmental charges, was docked 45 vacation days, and put on dismissal probation. He was informed that the city had no plans to indemnify him either, according to sources.
It’s not yet known how much money Christian will have to hand over to the woman, Pamela Held, 30, of Long Island. Christian’s lawyer, Edward DeLeon, told sources that there was “no admission of wrongdoing by anyone.” A spokesman for the city’s lawyers claim that the settlement “was in the city’s best interest,” notes the NY Daily News.
Held filed the suit against Christian nearly two years ago. In February of 2013, she was pulled over close to the Queens-Brooklyn border because her car lacked an inspection sticker. The police then discarded her Fourth Amendment rights by searching her car, where they found four Oxycodone pills, two amphetamines and one Suboxone.
Down at the police station
The drugs are commonly prescribed to help treat opioid dependence, but Held lacked the required prescriptions for the medication. She was arrested and taken to the 104th Precinct station house. Prior to being booked on a drug misdemeanor charge , the police asked where she had been before the incident. She said she had been visiting a friend and had text messages that could verify her story. She then handed a female police officer her phone and its security code.
Once she was released and her phone returned, Held claims Christian started to flirt with her but she didn’t return the gesture. Upon reviewing her phone, she discovered that 20 risqué pictures and five videos of her, which were intended for her boyfriend’s eyes only, had been forwarded to a different number. She hired a lawyer, Richard Soleymanzadeh, and an investigator who determined the forwarded number was in fact Christian’s cellphone number.
In light of this discovery, Held filed a complaint with the police. She spoke to Christian on the phone for 50 minutes while Internal Affairs Bureau investigators eavesdropped on the conversation.
The drug charges filed against Held were later dismissed. Her suit identified Christian and three other police officers who had access to her phone at the time of her arrest. Held’s lawyer stated Christian denied that the pictures were forwarded to his phone.
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