Southeast Man Files Police Brutality Suit Against Putnam

SOUTHEAST, NY — George Tarano has filed a police brutality lawsuit in US District Court alleging police brutality and civil rights violations during an incident in 2019 that left him physically and cognitively impaired and seeking $50 million.

According to the lawsuit, on the night of July 8, Taranto went outside at 2 a.m. because he heard noises and saw lights. He carried a gun. The suit alleges that officers told him to drop the gun and when he did they beat him up and arrested him for menacing, a misdemeanor, The Journal News reported.

According to the lawsuit, at some point officers took him to Putnam County Hospital Center, where he suffered cardiac and respiratory failure. His family was notified "several hours later" by the hospital. He was on life support for days. In September, he realized he couldn't walk and underwent surgery for brain bleeds, TJN reported.

Read the entire article on lohud.com.

The suit filed by Tarano and his wife Karen March 19 names Putnam County and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department as well as Robert L. Langley, Jr., William Quick, Vincent Dalo, Daniel Hunsberger, Ryan Diskin and Ronald Yeager.

A spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office told Patch, "Due to the pending civil litigation and the pending criminal charges against George Taranto we will not make any comments other than we strongly deny the allegations and there is dashcam video that contradicts many of the baseless allegations in Mr. Taranto’s lawsuit."