In a hush-hush arraignment late today, two northern Manhattan police officers quietly pleaded not guilty to charges they lied in paperwork to conceal a pattern of unlawful stops, searches and detentions of civilians.
Sgt. William Eiseman, 41, and Officer Michael Carsey, 29, denied charges of perjury, offering a false instrument for filing, and official misconduct connected to four incidents in 2007 and 2008. Eiseman denied an additional charge of tampering with evidence.
The press was not given advance notice of the court proceeding by the District Attorney’s office, which allowed the two cops to be arraigned unobserved by reporters, and then leave Manhattan Criminal Court without their pictures being taken by news photographers.
Less than a half-hour after the two officers left the building, the DA’s press office cut loose a 1000-word press release about the case, featuring lengthy quotes from DA Cyrus Vance and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly strongly condemning the cops’ alleged conduct.
A spokeswoman for the DA’s office said the lack of notice was unintentional, and blamed a communications error between the DA’s press office and officials.
According to the indictment, Eiseman is implicated in four incidents of misconduct while assigned as a supervisor for the NYPD Impact Response Team and the Manhattan North Task Force.
In one incident, charges against a suspect had to be dropped after Eiseman and Carsey were found to have lied under oath before a Manhattan Supreme Court judge about the legality of an apartment search. In another, two suspects were unlawfully detained by Eiseman while their car was searched — and when the expected cocaine was not found inside, they were issued false summonses to justify the initial stop, prosecutors said.
The pair were released without bail, and are due back in court Aug. 10.