It’s a question that many people wonder about but don’t have the courage to ask. A NYPD officer is on trial for asking a transgender individual why he needs breasts — since everyone knows mammary glands are specifically designed for breastfeeding.
Sgt. Michael DiCecco, who was named “Cop of the Month” in 2012, reportedly asked the trans person “what did she have tits for” during a stop in 2016.
The trans person who goes by the name Melanie Legend was walking home on April 21, 2016 when he was stopped on Staten Island by a “dark-colored, unmarked Impala,” a prosecutor with the Civilian Complaint Review Board said in court.
Legend said three men got out — Sgt. Michael DiCecco, Officer Robert Hesterhagen and Officer Gary Leite — and began peppering him with questions.
DiCecco reportedly asked Legend why he changed his name and what did he “have tits for” — before inquiring about a bulge in Legend’s waistband.
DiCecco allegedly put his “thumb in Melanie Legend’s waistband and pulled her pants down in the middle of the street,” prosecutor Hamilton Lee said in opening statements.
“After finding nothing on her, they let her go,” Hamilton said.
Legend took down the license plate of the car and the three officers were tracked down.
But DiCecco’s lawyer John D’Alessandro insisted Legend has the wrong guy, claiming DiCecco was “in the middle of a very serious felony arrest” approximately two miles away when Legend was stopped.
Legend’s description of DiCecco is also way off. Legend described DiCecco as 26 to 29 years old, 150 to 160 pounds and having “dirty blond or light brown hair,” testified CCRB Investigator Joshua Richardson.
But DiCecco is 47 with salt and pepper hair and weighs about 200 pounds, D’Alessandro said.
Legend sued the city and the three police officers, claiming they insulted him and strip-searched him in the middle of the street. That suit, filed in Brooklyn federal court, was settled last week for $25,000, according to the NY Post.
Stock photo by Tillsonburg / Getty Images
