The video didn’t lie, but this cop allegedly did – and now he’s in big trouble.
Officer Diego Palacios has been indicted on felony charges by a Brooklyn grand jury after a surveillance video exposed a sham that landed an innocent man in jail for three days.
Palacios was slapped with official misconduct, perjury and offering a false instrument charges for arresting John Hockenjos in a case built prosecutors say was built on lies.
“My client never should have been put in a position where he had to spend a single second in jail,” said Craig Newman, a defense lawyer who represented Hockenjos on the reckless endangerment charge that got tossed in March.
The 55-year-old Bensonhurst man was going home to watch the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 when he ended up in jail for allegedly driving his sedan “at a high rate of speed” that supposedly caused the cop to leap for his life.
But the silent video shows Hockenjos slowly creeping his car into the driveway while Palacios doesn’t budge.
Cops had been called to the home over a long-running property dispute between Hockenjos and neighbor Argo Paumere.
“Thank God my client had that video,” Newman said.
A defense lawyer for Palacios said the eight-year NYPD veteran maintains “100%” that Hockenjos put him in jeopardy when he pulled into the driveway.
“We are confident he will be exonerated and continue in the job that he cares about and loves so much,” said Arthur Aidala.
Hockenjos could not be reached for comment.
But Newman said the ordeal has shredded the city transit worker’s trust in police.
“I know he and his wife are pleased with this result,” Newman said. “But they’re still living in fear and anxiety that is simple as just being afraid to call 911.”