From the NY Post:The Queens man who went from ex-con to hero soldier -- after Gov. David Paterson granted him a surprise Christmas pardon -- is back from Afghanistan, but no closer to fulfilling his dream of being an NYPD cop.
Army Specialist Osvaldo Hernandez, 28, who had served eight months in prison on a gun-possession rap before becoming a paratrooper in Afghanistan, had been issued a "full and unconditional" pardon on Christmas Eve by Paterson.
However, Hernandez just returned from his second tour in Afghanistan, where he supervised a team of machine gunners and was recently promoted to sergeant, but he is no closer to being a cop.
"It's been over five years now serving in the United States Army," he told The Post today in an interview. "I've put my life on the line for this country, but that's something I feel really good about and I'm ready to do it for the NYPD."
Hernandez's lawyer said his NYPD application remains in limbo.
He said he hopes the NYPD will consider his application and allow him to be a cop.
36 comments:
i think the commissioner, a former Marine , will step up and reward sgt.hernandez with an n.y.p.d. badge, after training.
he seems to have rehabilitated himself, if the article is true.
The rules are rules. You can't be anyc cop after being convicted of a felony. He excels in the Armed Forces,perhaps that is the career he should pursue.
I understand and appreciate a zero tolerance position with respect to felony convictions. But he was pardoned. If one is worried about opening a floodgate of litigation by others with felony convictions, perhaps that should be made to be the only exception. The funny thing is, he could become a lawyer, or a physician, or maybe even a NYC public school teacher, but not a cop?
Agreed.
The rules are rules. You can't be anyc cop after being convicted of a felony.
Yes, but should the same rules that apply to pastey, pale European Americans apply to non-European Americans?
Hernandez has a different culture than the American majority, shouldn't we respect his culture, and the fact that his way of thinking is different from the pale-faced majority in this country?
Plus, what about diversity? Don't we want a vibrant and diverse police force?
The NYPD should start an outreach program targeting the ex-con community.
This would be an excellent start - offer a job to Hernandez, and extend the program to other former felons.
NYPD should also set a quota - say 1,500 officers should be former convicts. It would definitely provide much needed diversity on the police force.
Is Deke DaSilva being sarcastic, and using comedy to the point of aburdity to make a point?
DUH!!!!
Anonymous wrote;
" i think the commissioner, a former Marine , will step up..."
I am not sure I agree, the Commissioner seems to have a big problem with young men of color and this appears to be yet another example of it.
Ya know, Deke, you might be on to something.
Afterall, who understands a criminal mind like a crook.
Bernie Madoff brought back as ass't DA for corporate fraud - whattya think of that?
The NYPD is the largest criminal organization New York City has ever seen.
Commanding officers sending lower ranking officer to the house of a man who has a rent dispute with the commanding officers wife. Ultimately the arresty has a stroke in the cell and nothing is initially done.
Cops cooperating with whore houses in Flushing.
Cops claiming they purchased cocaine from bar owners.
Raymond Walter Kelly: Crime Kingpin of New York City.
Note that the latest trend for gangs is to send their people to the army to get survival and weapons training, leadership tools, and of course, inside knowledge of how the government works.
DO NOT let thugs in the army. They will only turn those skills back around on us.
He shouldn't be rewarded for fighting in a one sided war.
Rules are made to be followed. Soldiers know that, so if he is reformed, let him make a career in the military.
"let him make a career in the military."
Yea because if it's not a police officer working for the prison industrial complex, he can just work as a proxy for the MILITARY industrial complex.
Anonymous said;
"Rules are made to be followed. Soldiers know that, so if he is reformed, let him make a career in the military."
If that is the case, why allow him to serve in the military but not the NYPD then???
Is it because white boys prize NYPD jobs but are adverse to being cannon fodder in Afghanistan??
And anyway, a pardon is intended to erase all of the consequences of a conviction.
This is so racist and unfair.
"Rules are made to be followed. Soldiers know that, so if he is reformed, let him make a career in the military."
If that is the case, why allow him to serve in the military but not the NYPD then???
The NYPD's rule is no convicted felons. Osvaldo is one. No NYPD career for him. The NYPD's rules and the military's rules have nothing to do with each other. If the military wants him, they can have him. The NYPD doesn't want convicted trash and is standing by their rule - as they should.
Is it because white boys prize NYPD jobs but are adverse to being cannon fodder in Afghanistan??
Our military is a volunteer-based military. If "white boys" want to be police officers and not others are volunteering to be "cannon fodder" that is a choice those volunteers have made. No one has forced, conscripted, or drafted anyone into the armed services.
And anyway, a pardon is intended to erase all of the consequences of a conviction.
Did you copy the definition of "pardon" right out of the dictionary? The NYPD already has a record of a denied application. They have no obligation to reconsider because Governor Dumbass felt sorry for him.
This is so racist and unfair.
What is racist about this? Has someone said that Hernandez cannot join the NYPD because of the color of his skin? Is there evidence that a white has been turned down by the NYPD due to a gun conviction, served in military despite that, the been pardoned of the felony charges, then allowed to serve in the NYPD?
The fighting 109th.......ready to get that donut and that cash in the hand. I never saw such a bunch of motherfucking losers as the 109th was years ago. Everybody has paid them off and I'm sure they still are. There is major gambling and whoring going on in downtown Flushing. What's the 109th doing? giving out tickets on Kissena Blvd. Fund raising is the main duty of the cops, especially the fighting 109th.
Is it because white boys prize NYPD jobs but are adverse to being cannon fodder in Afghanistan??
Another tired old canard put out by an uninformed dickhead with a hidden agenda.
Take a look here at this report, page 6:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf
The data is dated, about a year and a half old, but I'm sure it hasn't changed much.
74.7% of the deaths in Iraq and 79.4% of the deaths in Afghanistan are by the so-called "white boys" who are trying to avoid being cannon fodder.
You're entitled to your own opinions, "Mr. Diaz", but you're not entitled to your own facts.
You're fortunate also that you can hide behind the anonymity of the internet.
If you were in front of me right now, I'd physically bitch slap you, in addition to the intellectual bitch slap I just gave you.
Deke Da Silva,
Since you know all the statistics,
When NYPD officers are shot dead by fellow cops,
What percentage shot are of color?
What percentage of the shooters are of color?
Just asking.
Anonymous said,
"Did you copy the definition of "pardon" right out of the dictionary? The NYPD already has a record of a denied application. They have no obligation to reconsider because Governor Dumbass felt sorry for him."
I say, MY GOD, is this the technicality they hide behind to deny this patriotic man?
It sounds just like how the brass at NYPD found a sneaky legalism around the new law preventing them from electronically storing the racist stop and frisk data.
They realized there was a loophole, if they wrote it down using pen and paper instead of using their hand held computers, they could continue storing it.
Some of us wish the NYPD would just obey the law instead of looking for tricks to get around it.
Isn't that what they're always accusing defense lawyers of doing ?
Since you know all the statistics,
When NYPD officers are shot dead by fellow cops,
What percentage shot are of color?
What percentage of the shooters are of color? Just asking.
This has nothing to do with the argument at hand. Learn to debate, and while you are at it, learn some grammar rules.
It sounds just like how the brass at NYPD found a sneaky legalism around the new law preventing them from electronically storing the racist stop and frisk data.
Sneaky legalism? No, it's pretty explicit on the Notice of Examination for Police Officer on the DCAS website that they don't hire people with priors.
Limbo is where his NYPD application should remain. No gangsters on the force please.
"No gangsters on the force please."
Why not? There's so many of them on the force already.
Dick DaSliver said:
"You're fortunate also that you can hide behind the anonymity of the internet.
Likewise, for a pompous, stupid self-righteous asshole like yourself, who can dish out the dirt but can't take it.
Fuck you and your 'white-is-right' attitude. Anonymity? I doubt DaSilva is really your name. You're the one hiding behind a computer screen talking trash, cocksucker.
You're the one hiding behind a computer screen talking trash, cocksucker.
You want to take it to the next level? Post your address.
"Sneaky legalism? No, it's pretty explicit on the Notice of Examination for Police Officer on the DCAS website that they don't hire people with priors"
I would say they are being tricky here, since they are refusing to reconsider the application in light of the pardon, which erased the prior.
Once they've turned you down for any reason, they don't have to reconsider.
"Once they've turned you down for any reason, they don't have to reconsider."
Exactly !
And now we can all be happy knowing there will be an extra seat in the academy for yet another young white male from orange county.
We can feel secure knowing the life experiences he earned selling ice cream at the mall will serve him and us well while he is patrolling the housing projects in the Bronx.
Ray Kelly wins another round !
I feel safer with Whitey the Good Humor Boy than I do with Thuggy the Convicted...errr...Pardoned Felon on patrol.
Specialist Hernandez has been granted a Certificate of Good Conduct and a Certificate of Relief from Civil Disabilities. The combined effect of both Certificates under New York law is to remove any legal barrier to the civilian employment of Specialist Hernandez. The Certificate of Good Conduct explicitly removed the “legal bar to public office as a New York City police officer.” The District Attorney who prosecuted him acknowledged his redemption through voluntary military service: “He has done his penance. He has paid every debt that he owes society. His account...is completely squared. He did that by not merely avoiding trouble, but in serving his country, by doing honor, ultimately, to everyone.”
RE: "SNEAKY LEGALISM AND MR.DIAZ....when you entered the debate with your vicious,vile , diatribe and racialist -baiting comments you lost all credibility with your point. i give you no absolution for your stupidity.
"step up and reconsider Sg.Hernandez".
A KOREAN WAR VETERAN
you both should be ashamed of yourselves........
The funny thing is that most, if not all the underachievers and thugs from my high school went to the army. It's actually more common than you may think. Trust me when I say this that this guy didn't do anything special. He had no other option other than to go to the army since no other place would hire him.
For those who don't know the story, this man was only ever arrested once when he was 20 years old. They found an unlicensed gun in his car during a routine traffic stop, something that isn't even a crime in most parts of this country.
But it is a crime in nyc.And if he wasn't caught with that gun,what do you think he would have done with it?
He wasn't convicted of a violent felony.
And his conviction is technically wiped clean with the pardon.
I'd rather have this chap on the force than the drunk that just got a 90-day prison sentence for slamming into a woman with his car.
I'd rather have this chap on the force than the drunk that just got a 90-day prison sentence for slamming into a woman with his car.
And if Governor McBlindy pardons him, are you cool with him coming back to work for the NYPD?
Why would he be pardoned? Is he planning to take a bullet in Afghanistan?
I'm sure the question is sarcastic, but here goes.
There is no way the drunk cop would ever be deserving of a pardon or reinstatement.
He was a grown man who disgraced his uniform and endangered the lives he swore to protect in the worst possible way by getting behind the wheel of a two ton vehicle (weapon) blind drunk.
Hernandez at age 20 was young enough that he could still learn from his mistake and straighten his life out, which he has done.
He has been watched for 8 years. He has the D.A. who prosecuted him, the Judge who sentenced him, a Governor who pardoned him, and his commanding officers in the Army all stepping up vouching for his character and saying he deserves the chance.
The two cases could not be more different.
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