NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A woman who was framed by her
ex-boyfriend for armed robbery and spent more than six months
in jail is suing New York City, Nassau County and a number of
police detectives who she said ignored critical exonerating
evidence and aided her ex-boyfriend's "preposterous" conspiracy
because of his ties to local law-enforcement agents.
Seemona Sumasar, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guyana in
1987, was indicted for armed robbery in Queens in November
2010. But evidence soon emerged that the accusations against
her were part of a conspiracy by her ex-boyfriend, Jerry
Ramrattan, to discredit Sumasar so she wouldn't press rape
charges against him.
Sumasar was freed after spending more than six months in
jail and, on November 23, a Queens jury found Ramrattan guilty
of 11 charges tied to the rape and subsequent conspiracy to
frame Sumasar. Three of his accomplices pleaded guilty to
perjury.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn federal court,
Sumasar said that "police aided and abetted the rapist by
concealing information in their possession about the rapist and
fabricating additional evidence against the victim."
"Ramrattan's scheme would not have been successful but for
the deliberate misconduct and reckless lapses" by law
enforcement officers who knew Ramrattan's criminal history but
chose to ignore it because of his past work as a police
informant, according to the complaint.
Those law enforcement connections helped Ramrattan in the
past, according to the lawsuit. Years before the scheme against
Sumasar, Ramrattan used his connections to help intimidate
another woman accusing him of rape into dropping the charges,
the lawsuit alleged.
'DELIBERATE AND TRAUMATIZING'
The lawsuit brings claims for false arrest, civil-rights
conspiracy, malicious prosecution, infliction of emotional
distress, negligence and constitutional violations. Sumasar and
her daughter, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, are seeking an
unspecified amount of money in compensatory and punitive
damages.
"The improper, deliberate and traumatizing conduct of all
defendants in fabricating evidence, concealing information
about Ramrattan and/or refusing to investigate Ms. Sumasar's
readily verifiable claims of innocence, resulting in her
wrongful arrest and prosecution ... was extreme and outrageous,
especially in light of their knowledge that she was a rape
victim and her truthful claim that her rapist was behind the
allegations against her," the complaint stated.
Sumasar had initially reported being raped by Ramrattan in
March 2009. After Ramrattan was indicted by a Queens grand jury
on rape charges, he came up with the scheme in an attempt to
silence her, Sumasar said.
Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli told Reuters that the
case would probably hinge on whether law-enforcement agents
could show they had probable cause to arrest Sumasar at the
time the accusations were first made.
"We're prepared to defend it," Ciampoli said.
A spokeswoman for New York City called it a "tragic
situation" but declined further comment.
Requests for comment to the New York City Police Department
and Nassau County were not immediately returned Tuesday
afternoon.
The case is Sumasar v. City of New York et al, in the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of New York, no.
11-5867.
For Sumasar: Nick Brusin, Deborah Cornwall, Anna Hoffmann
and Sonam Henderson of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin.
For the defendants: Not immediately available.
(Reporting by Jessica Dye)
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