PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kezilar Cornish, Member of Community United for Police Reform
0:32:12
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5 min
Kezilar Cornish, a member of Community United for Police Reform, testified about police misconduct and corrupt practices, sharing his personal experience of an illegal stop that led to a wrongful conviction and 30 years of imprisonment. He emphasized the powerlessness citizens feel in encounters with police and the need for reform in policing practices.
- Cornish described feeling powerless against the NYPD's authority and how this sentiment is widespread among citizens.
- He shared a personal story of an illegal stop over 30 years ago that resulted in a wrongful conviction, leading to 30 years of imprisonment.
- Cornish highlighted the ongoing issue of illegal stops in New York City and the lack of compensation for dismissed cases resulting from such stops.
Kezilar Cornish
0:32:12
Hello.
0:32:15
My name is Kezlar Cornish, and, I reside in Brooklyn.
0:32:20
I'm a member of a civil rights union of, voices of community activist leaders and a member of Community United for Police Reform.
0:32:30
We're trying to end mass incarceration and harmful policing.
0:32:34
I'm here to testify on police misconduct and corrupt police practices that I've endured personally.
0:32:42
I want to express to the panel that for most of my life I felt powerless against the seemingly God given authority that the New York Police Department has had over me and most of the people that I've known growing up our entire lives.
0:33:01
When we're in front of these, police officers and, you know, other, representatives of law enforcement, we feel powerless.
0:33:11
We feel as if they're given this godlike and god given like authority, which should not be since, they're supposedly working for the citizenry, and, we are citizens for sure.
0:33:30
Besides the, powerlessness, you know, when, you know, the cops stop pedestrians, they feel like they have to put their hands up.
0:33:40
You know?
0:33:41
Why is the public trained to be fearful in that way?
0:33:46
Right?
0:33:46
It's because it's so ingrained within society that it's now become a normal thing.
0:33:52
Like, it's the norm.
0:33:54
Although that's actually not policing, but that's just a culture that has developed over the years.
0:34:03
So this reduces the citizens to being a suspect.
0:34:11
The police department is deemed more important than the people that they're actually working for.
0:34:16
When, you know, the reports are written and people are speaking about the interaction between the citizen and the police, Normally, they're concerned about, if the police were safe as if they're not there for the safety of the citizenry.
0:34:36
And that seems to be, you know, the reverse of what it should be.
0:34:41
But that's not the case.
0:34:42
And we all know that that the case is, they're concerned about whether the officer, you know, was, safe or not.
0:34:51
And, you know, that's viable as well.
0:34:53
He should be safe.
0:34:54
We don't, condone the fact that, you know, police officers should be harmed or hurt in any way, shape, or form.
0:35:00
But at the same time, we think that the overriding concern should be about the pedestrians that are walking the street going about their way.
0:35:10
I wanna share a personal experience.
0:35:13
Many years ago, over 30 something years ago, I was on a train and a New York Police Department officer stopped the train and, was patrolling the car.
0:35:25
And we found that when the bulletin goes out for a particular suspect, what actually happens is that the New York Police Department begins to look for any black man that's suitable.
0:35:40
And so I became the any black man.
0:35:45
So he searched the car and, they were looking for, you know, someone, some description that we don't know of, but the people that were in the car with me, but this officer told me to step out of the car.
0:36:02
Now I had an appointment.
0:36:05
I was going to the studio.
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I could have possibly, made some really big, waves in the music industry, but that was derailed because of this incident that completely changed my life and impacted me, my family, and so forth and so on.
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I ended up doing 30 years not for that crime, but because I was picked up for this crime that is now completely dismissed.
0:36:34
And so because of this dismissed case, I ended up doing 30 years for unlawful conviction as well.
0:36:43
So these types of illegal stops are still far too common in the city of New York.
0:36:52
The consequences of my wrongful conviction was a direct result of that illegal stop.
0:37:00
I didn't do anything.
0:37:02
And because of the fact that the case is dismissed, there's no way for me to receive any recompense.
0:37:08
You know?
0:37:09
There is no compensation when something is thrown out and there's no way to actually take that information from the case and then bring it to the next case to show that this is not something that should be because we have probable cause laws.
0:37:25
You know?
0:37:26
We have the fruit of the your poisonous tree, where if one thing happens, you know, and then something else happens behind it, this fruit that it came from is something that, you know, can't be in law.
Yousef Salaam
0:37:38
Mister mister Cornish, we're gonna have to wrap, but I definitely, I hear you.
0:37:43
Yes.
0:37:43
And I wanna say welcome home.
Kezilar Cornish
0:37:45
Thank you so much.
Yousef Salaam
0:37:46
That time, the unjust time that you did.
Kezilar Cornish
0:37:48
And may I say one thing?
0:37:51
I'm extremely proud, mister Yousef Salaam, to see you on this council, and I am glad to say welcome home to you as well.
