ldunbar@nul.org

Max Smith, (212)558-5371

msmith@nul.org

New York, NY, March 5, 2002–In light of a federal Court of Appeals decision to overturn the convictions of three New York City police officers in the 1997 barbaric torture and sexual assault of Abner Louima, National Urban League president Hugh B. Price called for Attorney General John Ashcroft to deploy the full investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Justice Department to bring the remaining offenders to justice.

Likening the attack on Mr. Louima, who was sodomized in a precinct bathroom with a broomstick, to a "modern-day lynching, with all the withering humiliation and physical danger associated with lynching," Mr. Price notes that Justin Volpe, the ex-police officer who pled guilty to sodomizing Mr. Louima and is serving a thirty-year sentence, clearly had help in carrying out the assault.

"Some other police accomplice(s) pinned down the victim while Officer Volpe assaulted him," Mr. Price said.

"Still other police officers may have witnessed or known about the hideous attack while it was happening or else afterwards.

Mr. Volpe has confessed and been sentenced to a lengthy prison term. That is exactly as it should be. But as a result of last week’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals, he now stands as the only culprit to have been convicted and punished. That isn’t as it should be, and it’s up to the U.S. Justice Department to right this grievous wrong."

The National Urban League has been a vocal force in the fight against police brutality. In 1999, Mr. Price sent an open letter to President Clinton, urging White House response to and legal action against officers involved in another high profile and tragic incident, wherein Amadou Diallo, an unarmed man, was shot and killed by police officers in a hail of 41 bullets.

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Two weeks later, the League organized a press conference in Washington, DC where civil rights leaders representing African-American, Asian and Latino groups convened to speak out against police brutality.

Then, in March, Mr. Price and other civil rights leaders met with Attorney General Janet Reno to begin crafting an agenda for addressing police brutality issues. In June of that same year, Mr. Price participated in a round table discussion moderated by President Clinton during a two-day conference titled, "Strengthening Police-Community Relationship," representing the fulfillment of the League’s repeated calls for an organized meeting on the issue.

The League remains committed to seeing that justice is served in cases of police abuse and misconduct, and continues to exert its influence, as evidenced by Mr. Price’s recent remarks:

"What people of good will across the country know is that Mr. Volpe’s accomplices, along with those police officers who kept this assault secret, are now Scott-free. That is utterly unacceptable and untenable if the American system of criminal justice is to retain any semblance of credibility in the eyes of our community.

"That is why I call upon the Attorney General to declare that the U.S. Justice Department will not rest until Mr. Volpe’s accomplice(s) and those who covered up this hideous crime are brought to justice."