February 18, 2000
Volpe on the Stand
Seeking to clear ex-cop in assault
By HELEN PETERSON
Daily News Staff Writer
His face pallid but his voice self-assured, disgraced cop Justin Volpe took the witness stand yesterday to clear another officer's name in the brutal attack of Abner Louima.
In his first sworn testimony, Volpe insisted that ex-cop Charles Schwarz was not the man in the 70th Precinct stationhouse bathroom during the sodomy torture.
Dressed in a borrowed blazer and slacks, Volpe — who appeared jittery as he took the stand — became more self-assured as he began testifying in the courtroom where he leaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
Schwarz, who was convicted last year of restraining Louima during the Aug. 9, 1997 attack, listened intently as Volpe told the packed courtroom — which included Louima's parents — that Schwarz was innocent and another cop, Thomas Wiese, was in the bathroom during the assault.
"Officer Schwarz was not in the bathroom with me at any point during the assault," Volpe said under questioning by Schwarz's lawyer, Ronald Fischetti.
"Two months ago, I was sentenced to 30 years in prison. I want to do that time with a clear mind, with a clear conscience," Volpe said, explaining why he decided to testify.
He said Wiese was in the bathroom from the beginning of the assault until the end, contradicting Wiese's account to investigators.
Volpe testified that when he walked into the bathroom with Louima, Wiese was already inside — and that he did nothing to help or stop the attack.
"I observed him while I punched Abner Louima, and after I finished assaulting Mr. Louima with the stick Mr. Wiese was still in the same spot," Volpe said under cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Resnick.
Trying to appear contrite, Volpe, 27, said he took Louima into the bathroom only to get an apology because he believed the Haitian immigrant had punched him in the head.
Volpe's explanation echoed much of what he told a psychologist last summer and what he said at his sentencing. Each time the prosecutor tried to trip up Volpe with references to Schwarz, however, Volpe insisted Schwarz was never in the bathroom.
He also took sole responsibility for the attack, saying no one helped him restrain Louima. "The only officer who assaulted Mr. Louima was myself," he said. He insisted he knew Schwarz only casually as a 70th Precinct colleague and never socialized with him.
"I can't live with myself and do my time in peace by knowing that another man is paying for the crimes that I did.
"It has nothing to do with friendship; it just has to do with doing what's right in my heart," Volpe added.
A week after the attack, Wiese told investigators that he walked into the bathroom and saw Louima lying half-naked on the floor, with Volpe holding a stick.
He allegedly said that when he saw Volpe with the stick, he cried out: "What, are you crazy? What's going on?" and grabbed Louima to take him from the bathroom.
Wiese said he entered the bathroom because he heard a thump inside and wanted to see what was happening, according to trial testimony from another witness, a former deputy inspector with Internal Affairs.
Resnick tried to suggest Volpe's testimony was an effort to get back at Wiese for implicating him early on, but Volpe didn't bite.
"I wasn't happy with it," he admitted.
"Were you angry at him, yes or no?" Resnick said.
"No, I wasn't angry," Volpe answered.
Asked about his defense, which implied Louima was injured during consensual gay sex, Volpe said: "I was a 25-year-old kid who didn't want to go to jail, that's all I could tell you." Wiese glanced at Volpe during the testimony but spent most of the time scribbling in a notebook.
His lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, declined to cross-examine Volpe.
"The only issue in this trial is whether Charles Schwarz was in the bathroom, and [whether] these three defendants were conspiring to keep him out. In that regard, I had nothing to ask Justin Volpe," Tacopina said.
Schwarz faces a possible life sentence on his conviction last year of restraining Louima during the sodomy attack. He maintains his innocence. Schwarz's wife, Andra, said Volpe's testimony could help him in his appeal.
Schwarz, Wiese and another cop, Thomas Bruder, are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice by allegedly making a pact to keep Schwarz from being charged in the bathroom attack.
