Cops' handling of Bird case allowed in suit

A lawyer for the family of a murdered New Cassel woman can put details from a police internal affairs investigation of the handling of the woman's death into his amended lawsuit against Nassau County, a federal magistrate said in court Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Kathleen Tomlinson said attorney Frederick Brewington can name the Nassau police officers that he accuses of wrongdoing and give details about how he believes they failed to follow protocol before Jo'Anna Bird's March 2009 death when he files an amended version of his lawsuit next week.

Brewington, of Hempstead, said he expects to file the document in federal court in Central Islip on Jan. 26.

Brewington represents Bird's mother, Sharon Dorsett. He has said in legal papers that police did not respond properly to several calls Bird and her family members made to 911 in the days before she was tortured and killed by her ex-boyfriend, Leonardo Valdez-Cruz. Cruz was convicted in April of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.

Tomlinson ruled Friday that Brewington could not release a 700-page internal affairs report detailing police actions in the days leading up to Bird's death.

Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey has said the report revealed that seven officers did not properly investigate at least four domestic-violence visits to the home where Bird was staying in the days before Valdez-Cruz killed her. Mulvey has never revealed the names of the officers or what disciplinary action was taken.

In a brief proceeding Wednesday, Tomlinson said Brewington can use the report to inform the allegations in his lawsuit. She said he could not include opinions given or conclusions drawn in the report.

Brewington has said the report should be released because the public has a right to know mistakes made by police. Newsday and News12, both owned by Cablevision, also made a motion for the report's release.

Nassau lawyers have said the report should not be public, in part because releasing it could reveal secret investigative techniques.