We're the Only Ones Choked Up Enough

A disgraced patrolman convicted in one of the most notorious abuse cases in city history — the 1994 chokehold death of an unarmed Bronx man who was tossing a football in the street — has chosen a new career path: motivational speaker and self-defense trainer.

Per his website:

Francis X. Livoti was a New York City Police Officer for fifteen years and a union official in the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for the last nine of those years.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association? Oh yeah, the guys whose president, Patrick T. Lynch advocates:

"We need to make it clear that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line."

It's so refreshing these days to find people who mean exactly what they say.

And as for Livoti?

"I served my time. I have a right to make a living."

Uh, not quite.

Livoti was first tried in a non-jury trial in the Bronx on a charge of criminally negligent homicide. A judge ruled prosecutors didn't make their case, despite testimony by the medical examiner that Baez died of asphyxia caused by choking...The officer was kicked off the force in 1997 when police officials ruled he used an illegal choke hold. A year later, a federal jury convicted him of violating Baez's civil rights. The city later paid the Baez family $3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

What do you think the chances are for a judge to fix criminal charges and the city to pay the civil settlement if a non-LEO had done this to one of NYC's finest?

Oh, that's right--lifting a finger is a death sentence. Never mind.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]