Last year, New York Times photographer Robert Stolarik was arrested and beaten by NYPD officer Michael Ackermann after Stolarik took photos of a teenage girl being arrested in the Bronx. At the time, Ackermann claimed that Stolarik was obstructing his arrest by repeatedly setting off his camera’s flash, and that he had repeatedly and lawfully instructed the photographer to stop.
That turns out not to be the case, as Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson recently investigated evidence from the scene and found that Stolarik didn’t use a flash (his camera wasn’t even equipped with one). Ackermann has been indicted on three felonies and five misdemeanors “related to filing false records and official misconduct,” according to the Times, and faces up to seven years in prison.
“We are pleased that officials in the Bronx took a serious look at this case and brought an indictment after finding police misconduct,” said Abbe Serphos, a spokeswoman for the paper. “We remain troubled that the arrest of the photographer, Robert Stolarik, was made in the first place.”
