A former FBI special agent is facing federal charges after prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment accusing him of violating someone's civil rights and then lying about it. The case, announced Thursday, names Andrew Reyes as the defendant in a prosecution alleging civil rights violations by a federal law enforcement officer.
According to a post from the U.S. Attorney EDNY
, the charges include a federal civil rights violation and making false statements. The office, which is the official U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and operates out of Brooklyn, shared the announcement under its @ednynews handle. Reyes is described as a former FBI special agent.
How Federal Civil Rights Cases Against Officers Have Unfolded Before
In one earlier matter, the FBI Archives recorded that NYPD Officer Michael Daragjati, described as an eight-year veteran of the department, was charged with violating a person's civil rights in a case involving false arrest and malicious prosecution.
In another prior case, a Metropolitan Detention Center correctional officer was charged with a federal civil rights violation, according to a Justice Department announcement for the Eastern District of New York. That filing described conduct that included starting a car chase through the streets of Brooklyn that ended with the officer shooting at passengers in another vehicle without justification and wounding one person, per the Justice Department's description.
Those earlier cases offer context for how federal prosecutors in the district have approached civil rights charges against people who wear a badge, but the specifics of the Reyes case have not been detailed beyond the truncated indictment language. No additional case documents, court dates, or responses from Reyes or his representatives were available at the time of the announcement.
