An NYPD cop who pulled his gun on a group of five young men who hit him with a snowball continued to get battered Wednesday at his civil trial over the incident.
Sgt. Adonis Ramirez, 34, testified that he never told anyone the men, one of them as young as 15, chased him — but a captain and police officer who interviewed the cop immediately after the incident contradicted that story, and testified that Ramirez told them the men came after him.
The five slapped Ramirez with the suit after all charges against them were dropped following the bizarre 2010 Bronx incident.
When Ramirez was asked by the men’s attorney whether he told responding police he was chased, Ramirez answered, “No.”
But later, NYPD Capt. Charles Hammer and Officer Paolo Diaz both testified that Ramirez stated he had been chased or followed by the men.
Plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Zeichner also grilled Ramirez on a point in the surveillance footage where two young girls can be seen tossing snowballs.
“Those girls just commit a crime, as far as you’re concerned?” Zeichner said.
“No sir,” Ramirez answered.
“But it was when it happened to you?” Zeichner said.
“Yes sir,” Ramirez finally said.
Anthony Aquino, 19, Manuel Rondon, 22, Johnathan Rodriguez, 26, Christian Perez, 23, and Ariel Lopez, 21 are suing Ramirez, who told cops the group hurled several snowballs at him and chased him down before he drew his weapon.
Aquino and Rodriguez both testified Wednesday that the screaming Ramirez never identified himself as NYPD.
“I thought I was going to die or one of my friends was going to die,” testified Aquino, who was just 15 when Ramirez drew a gun on him. “I was fearing for my life.”
