Yonkers Cop Faces 10 Years for Barroom Body Slam

Woman seeks $11 million from officer, city in civil suit...

Opening arguments began today in the case of a Yonkers police officer accused of body-slamming a 44-year-old woman in a confrontation that was caught on tape and got national media attention.

Wayne Simoes, 39, could get 10 years in prison if he's convicted in the federal case.

He's charged with criminal civil rights violation against Irma Marquez in connection with the 2007 incident. The case made national headlines after a camera inside the La Fonda Restaurant, in Yonkers, showed Simoes picking the woman up off the ground, then slamming her face-first into the floor. The woman suffered a broken jaw and other facial injuries.

The defendant was among several Yonkers police officers responding to a call about a brawl at the restaurant. His colleagues later told investigators they thought his use of force was excessive.

Marquez's attorneys said in a separate civil suit that their client was leaning in to get a close-up look at the medical attention her niece was getting after being injured in the fight, according to lohud.com. That's when the altercation between Marquez and Simoes began.

But Simoes' attorney said the officer was trying to keep the woman from interfering with the medical attention her niece was receiving, adding that Marquez was drunk and slipped out of the grasp of Simoes.

Judge Kenneth M. Karas is presiding over the criminal case, which is expected to last about a week in White Plains. The judge ruled Monday that the video from the restaurant can be used as evidence, the paper reported.

Marquez is seeking $11 million from Simoes and the city in the civil suit.

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