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Some things never change ....
Before he became public enemy No. 1 inside the Baltimore Police Department, Det. Joseph Crystal was considered one of its rising stars.
The son of two NYPD cops, Crystal was put in charge of his police academy cadet class on day one.
He was promoted to detective before he reached his second year on the force.
And he went on to lead his violent crime unit in gun arrests, racking up high-profile collars that made the evening news.
For Crystal, rooting out crime in one of the most violent cities in the nation didn’t even feel like work.
“Being a cop was all I ever wanted to do,” he says. “A dream come true.”
But that dream turned into a nightmare four years ago when his brothers in blue turned on him – bombarding him with taunts and threats, refusing to come to his aid during drug busts and even leaving a dead rat on his windshield.
His crime? He reported a case of police brutality.
Crystal drew the ire of his department after coming forward to report the 2011 beating of a drug suspect by a fellow officer. Crystal’s subsequent trial testimony helped secure convictions against the cop who carried out the beating and the sergeant who helped facilitate it.
Crystal says the pattern of abuse that followed led him to resign from the job he loved.
“I never imagined that doing the right thing as a cop could cost me so much,” Crystal, 31, told the Daily News this week in his most extensive interview to date.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ex-baltimore-labeled-rat-police-brutality-claim-article-1.2077632
Before he became public enemy No. 1 inside the Baltimore Police Department, Det. Joseph Crystal was considered one of its rising stars.
The son of two NYPD cops, Crystal was put in charge of his police academy cadet class on day one.
He was promoted to detective before he reached his second year on the force.
And he went on to lead his violent crime unit in gun arrests, racking up high-profile collars that made the evening news.
For Crystal, rooting out crime in one of the most violent cities in the nation didn’t even feel like work.
“Being a cop was all I ever wanted to do,” he says. “A dream come true.”
But that dream turned into a nightmare four years ago when his brothers in blue turned on him – bombarding him with taunts and threats, refusing to come to his aid during drug busts and even leaving a dead rat on his windshield.
His crime? He reported a case of police brutality.
Crystal drew the ire of his department after coming forward to report the 2011 beating of a drug suspect by a fellow officer. Crystal’s subsequent trial testimony helped secure convictions against the cop who carried out the beating and the sergeant who helped facilitate it.
Crystal says the pattern of abuse that followed led him to resign from the job he loved.
“I never imagined that doing the right thing as a cop could cost me so much,” Crystal, 31, told the Daily News this week in his most extensive interview to date.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ex-baltimore-labeled-rat-police-brutality-claim-article-1.2077632
