Justin Volpe (R) arrives at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on September 8, 1997, for arraignment on charges of beating Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. | Source: BOB STRONG / Getty
The former NYPD officer who sodomized a Haitian immigrant with a broken broomstick while brutally beating him in a police precinct in the 1990s has been released early from prison following nearly a quarter of a century behind bars.
Justin Volpe was recently released from a federal prison in Minnesota nearly 26 years to the date after he and other NYPD officers participated in the savage sexual assault of Abner Louima in Brooklyn.
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Volpe, now 51 years old, is reportedly confined to a personal residence until his full release in January 2024, NY1 reported. He was previously scheduled to be released from prison in 2025 following his original 30-year sentence in 1999. The nature of his early release, which happened quietly in April, is not clear.
Volpe was previously denied a request for early release during the pandemic over coronavirus fears that a federal judge found to be unwarranted.
Abner Louima speaks after Volpe’s sentencing on December 13, 1999. | Source: DOUG KANTER / Getty
What happened to Abner Louima?
The law enforcement-orchestrated brutal sexual assault of Louima on Aug. 9, 1997, was one of the most vicious examples of police brutality in America.
Louima, trained as an electrical engineer in his native Haiti, worked as a security guard in Brooklyn, where he resided with his wife and child. After visiting Club Rendez-Vous, a popular hotspot in Flatbush, he and fellow partygoers got in the middle of a fight between two women.
Police officer Charles Schwarz (R) with his lawyer before the jury verdict at Brooklyn federal court June 8, 1999. | Source: Spencer Platt / Getty
Volpe and fellow cop Charles Schwarz were among the first officers on the scene. After Volpe incorrectly assumed Louima struck him with a sucker punch, officers began beating Louima with nightsticks, two-way radios, and their fists while taking him to the 70th Precinct holding cell.
Louima was later taken to a precinct bathroom where cops continued to beat him as Volpe kicked him and squeezed his privates, court records show. That’s when Volpe then took a broken broomstick and sexually assaulted Louima anally, bragging to a fellow officer that he “took a man down tonight,” according to the trial testimony. Other reports also claimed Volpe used a plunger on Louima.
Thousands of Haitian protestors marched on City Hall and the 70th Precinct police station in New York City on August 29, 1997, in response to the police brutalizing of Abner Louima. | Source: Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty
When Louima was transferred to the emergency room at a hospital in Coney Island, a nurse treating him alerted his family and the Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD. Louima would require three surgeries for his colon and bladder and was hospitalized for two months.
The case sparked widespread outrage across the city and country after thousands of protesters demonstrated against the NYPD’s treatment of Louima at New York City Hall and at the 70th Precinct station house. The protest was formally known as the “Day of Outrage Against Police Brutality and Harassment.”
NYPD officer Thomas Wiese (C), who was convicted in the Abner Louima police brutality case, walks with his lawyers on June 27, 2000. | Source: mark peterson / Getty
The criminal trial
A trial would ensue with Volpe, Schwarz and three other officers facing numerous criminal charges including civil rights violations, obstruction of justice and false statements. Volpe initially pleaded not guilty but changed his plea during the midway point of the trial.
Volpe would go on to say later he was mistaken in naming Louima as the man who struck him at the nightclub incident. On Dec. 13, 1999, Volpe was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole along with fines.
Schwarz was given 15 years in 2000 for his role in assisting Volpe in the bathroom, where the more heinous assault took place. Three other officers were indicted and convicted but avoided prison time based on insufficient evidence.
NYPD officer Thomas Bruder (C), who was convicted in the Abner Louima police brutality case, is shown on June 27, 2000. | Source: mark peterson / Getty
The fallout
Louima would sue the city, resulting in an $8.75 million dollar settlement, which was at that point the largest police brutality settlement in New York City history. Louima later moved to Florida.
In a 2003 interview, Louima talked about using some of his settlement funds to assist people in Haiti.
“Maybe God saved my life for a reason, I believe in doing the right thing,” said Louima graciously.
In 2021, Louima campaigned alongside then-New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams and offered his endorsement of the former career NYPD officer.
Eric Adams and Abner Louima pose at City Hall Park in New York on May 4, 2021. | Source: Pacific Press / Getty
Adams, also the former head of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, spoke out in 2002 against a federal appeals court ruling that overturned the convictions of the three other officers who participated in the torture of Louima.
Volpe, for his part, inexplicably told the New York Post this week that he has “nothing but love” for Louima.
“I have nothing but love in my heart for New York City and everybody in my case involved, especially Mr. Louima,” Volpe said from his family’s home in Staten Island.
He added: “I wish us all peace. I just want to rebuild my life at the pace that I’m able to. God bless everyone.”
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