Lying in Boston Police Probe 'not a big deal,' witness says he was told
When his best friend, a Boston police officer, asked him to lie to protect another officer accused of beating a teenager, Dante Tordiglione said he was worried about what would happen if he got caught giving a false eyewitness account to investigators. But Tordiglione testified yesterday in a federal civil-rights trial that his friend, Officer Joseph Polito, assured him that it was "not a big deal" to lie to the Boston police's internal affairs department because they didn't take statements under oath. According to Tordiglione, Polito told him, "A lot of people go in and give false statements to IAD all the time." However, the web of lies by Tordiglione and two other friends, who were allegedly recruited to pose as witnesses in a bid to exonerate Sergeant Joseph LeMoure of brutality claims, erupted into a federal case. LeMoure is charged with violating constitutional rights by using excessive force against Peter Fratus, then 18, during a traffic stop in East Boston on June 24, 2000. LeMoure and Polito are charged with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and perjury for allegedly thwarting efforts to uncover the truth during a civil suit filed by Fratus and a federal grand jury probe.
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