He beat the rap — no baton necessary.
The cop charged in the brutal 2008 beating of an prone, unarmed Iraq war Army vet that was caught on tape was cleared of assault charges yesterday by a Manhattan jury.
David London, a 45-year-old father of three from The Bronx and a 15-year NYPD veteran, was additionally acquitted of charges that he tried to cover up the beating by lying in arrest paperwork that the perp had kicked and punched him and his partner.
London sobbed and hugged his lawyer, Stephen Worth, when the full verdict was read aloud by the jury forewoman.
He had faced anywhere from probation to 15 years in prison if found guilty of the top assault charge.
“I’d like to thank God and my family,” London said afterward outside Manhattan Supreme Court.
He remains on modified duty pending further NYPD hearings.
Jurors declined to comment.
The verdict came despite chilling surveillance video from the lobby of a West 93rd Street housing project showing the cop’s metal police baton rising and falling more than 20 times on the head and shoulders of Walter Harvin, 30, who was just back from the war zone.
But in deeming the beating justified, jurors apparently found the video cut both ways.
The footage shows Harvin initiating the physical contact by shoving the cop in the chest.
It also shows him leaning angrily toward the cop while shouting in apparent fury.
“I’m going to f – – – ing kill you, motherf – – – er,” London and his partner testified that Harvin repeatedly screamed, even as he writhed on the lobby floor and the bulk of the blows rained down.
But prosecutors said London went too far, and then compounded his misconduct with lies.
London arrested Harvin and signed court paperwork saying Harvin punched him, which the video contradicts. London testified he didn’t read the papers carefully.
“Officer London beat on Walter Harvin far more than was necessary, and to then justify that beating, he made up facts,” Assistant District Attorney David Drucker told jurors last week.
Harvin was hit nearly 20 times; he emerged with cuts and bruises. London was treated at a hospital for a back injury and released.
Assault and other charges against Harvin were dismissed.
Meanwhile, Harvin — who prosecutors say has checked in and out of veterans hospitals and homeless shelters since the beating — remained AWOL, unavailable to tell jurors his version of what was being said during the silent surveillance footage.