Shenandoah police also murdered an
18 year old Puerto Rican in custody
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan
 |
| David Vega - 18 year old Puerto Rican youth beaten to death then "hung" inside a jail cell by the Shenandoah police to make it look like a suicide. |
Today Attorney John Karoly filed suit against Chief Matthew Nestor, Captain Jamie Gennarini and the borough of Shenandoah for the murder of 18 year old David Vega, a Puerto Rican, while he was in jail on a minor infraction in 2004. The lawsuit states that Captain Gennarini and Captain Raymond Nestor - the father of the police chief - arrested David Vega at his home shortly before 8:55 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2004, while responding to a report of a domestic dispute. "While in police custody ... David Vega was beaten to death and then hung from the bars of a holding cell to make it appear as if he had committed suicide," the lawsuit said. David Vega was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.
An autopsy conducted by the county coroner determined that David Vega committed suicide, but Mr. Karoly said the coroner accepted Chief Nestor's explanation that David Vega's bruises had come earlier as he resisted arrest. A second autopsy arranged by the family confirmed David Vega "suffered extensive, massive injuries consistent with a profound beating. ... The defendant did not die of hanging," the suit said.
The Shenandoah Police Department has about 12 people, all White and some are related. For example Captain Raymond Nestor is the father of the Police Chief Matthew Nestor and Officer Jason Hayes, according to court testimony, is the live-in "lover" of bar maid Tammy Piekarsky who is the mother of Luis Ramirez' killer Brandon Piekarsky.
The police department is also extremely racist and especially against Blacks. For example, Chief Nestor faces yet another lawsuit, this one filed by a Shenandoah Black man arrested by the chief and another officer on March 11.
David Murphy Sr., who is also represented by Mr. Karoly, claims Chief Nestor and another officer made him turn over his prescription blood thinner at the police station, then refused to allow him to take his evening dose. Chief Nestor also punched Mr. Murphy in the back, where he had recently undergone spinal fusion surgery, the lawsuit said.
The officers left Mr. Murphy in a holding cell overnight. He "started to experience severe pain in his chest and arm ... but there was no one in the station to hear his cries for help," the suit said. He passed out and Mr. Karoly said he suffered a heart attack. He spent four days in a hospital.
Mr. Murphy, said that Chief Nestor threatened to kill him if he filed suit. The chief told Mr. Murphy he would not "make it out of the Shenandoah jail alive ... that (he) would end up like that Mexican who 'hung' himself," the suit said.
Police Chief Mathew Nestor is presently in jail awaiting trail. A federal judge refused to grant him bail.
Shenandoah, PA. dirty cops indicted on federal charges for attempting to cover
up
evidence in the hate murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez
Shenandoah
Police Captain
Jamie Gennarini
Related La Voz de Aztlan articles:
Federal hate crime charges filed in murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez
Racist Whites kill another undocumented Mexican immigrant
"Suppressed" witness to Shenandoah hate murder of Luis Ramirez speaks out
