by Matthew Futterman
A grand jury last week indicted Police Officer Francis Livoti in connection with the death of Anthony Baez. Livoti is charged with placing Baez in an illegal chokehold after a football Baez and his brothers were playing with hit the officer's patrol car last Dec. 22. He pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide and was released without having to post bail.
"I want more punishment," said Ramon Baez, the victim's father. "I want him to go to jail not just for one or two years, but for four or five."
City Councilman Jose Rivera expressed concern about the possibility of a fair trial because State Supreme Court Justice Burton Roberts suggested that Baez had died of an asthma attack, a contention echoed by Livoti and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the police officers' union.
"I hope he's not the judge because it sounds like he's prejudged the case," Rivera said.
In another case of alleged police brutality in the borough, the grand jury decided not to indict Det. Patrick Brosnan, a former bodyguard for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in the death of 17-year-old Anthony Rosario last January. A medical examiner determined that Brosnan had shot Rosario more than a dozen times in the back and side during what police have called an attempted armed robbery.
The dead youth's father, Antonio, said the grand jury's decision didn't surprise him because the prosecutor never thoroughly investigated the case.
"Now we're going to fight with all our heart to get an independent prosecutor in the case," said Rosario. "Just because Brosnan is politically connected doesn't mean he's above the law."
by C.J. Chivers
In a move that officials say could lead to higher water bills for borough residents, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has challenged the city's bid to buy land near its water sources in upstate New York.
"We are perilously close to missing the first land-purchase deadline without having purchased one acre of watershed land," City Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi wrote in a letter to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on March 20.
The city has applied for a permit to buy land near the threatened streams and reservoirs to help protect the city's water supply. But on March 6, the state proposed two dozen new rules that effectively block the sales.
If the city fails to safeguard these water sources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can force the construction of a colossal new plant to filter the water.
The latest estimate for its cost tops $4.5 billion, plus annual operating costs of $140 million. These expenses would be passed on in the form of higher water rates for property owners, which mean rent hikes for tenants.
"Higher water costs are in effect a tax increase that will set back your efforts to make New York a more attractive place to do business," Hevesi wrote in a March 15 letter to Gov. George Pataki, reminding Pataki of his promise to help the city escape the expense of a new plant.
Hevesi urged the governor and the mayor to fight the environmental department in court or to bypass the rules by authorizing land purchases through a third party, such as a conservation organization.