Ex-officer in Louima Case Out on Bail

Former police officer Charles Schwarz, convicted in 1999 for the 1997 torture of Abner Louima, was freed on $1 million bail to await a new trial. He is restricted to New York City pending the trial.

Schwarz was one of four white officers sentenced to prison in connection with the attack on Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was sodomized with a broken broomstick in a Brooklyn police station bathroom. Schwarz was accused of holding down Louima while Officer Justin Volpe brutalized him.

Schwarz denied he was in the bathroom.

Louima, who suffered severe internal injuries that left him in the hospital for two months following the incident, criticized the appeals court decision. He said the retrial was preventing him from getting on with his life.

Louima pledged to cooperate with prosecutors. He received a $8.7 million settlement from the city and police union.