Bronx NYPD officer charged with hitting suspect with police radio, lying about patrol car striking motorcyclist

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Bronx NYPD officer was arraigned on Friday on two indictments, one charging him with assaulting a suspect with a police radio and another with lying about a patrol car striking and injuring a motorcyclist, prosecutors said.

Kenny Victoria, 34, is charged in one indictment with two counts of attempted offering a false instrument, falsifying business records and officials misconduct.

The investigation found that just before 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2023, Victoria was a passenger in an NYPD patrol car near Monroe Avenue and East 173rd St. in Claremont when the vehicle crashed into a motorcyclist.

The incident fractured the victim’s leg and forced him over the hood of the car, and the biker was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

Prosecutors said that Victoria allegedly filed a collision report stating that the motorcyclist did a wheelie and drove into the patrol car, when surveillance video shows that the vehicle accelerated and turned into the motorcyclist as he entered an intersection.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said that he allegedly did this “to cover up for the officer who was driving.”

In the second indictment, Victoria is charged with two counts of assault and official misconduct for an incident that happened on April 30, 2024.

At about 3:41 p.m., Victoria was near 311 East 170th St.—only blocks from where the collision with the motorcyclist occurred four months earlier—when he responded to a call reporting a person with a gun.

When he arrived, Victoria chased down the armed man, who tossed his gun and was eventually tackled by another officer.

Prosecutors said that he then allegedly struck the suspect in the back of the head with his police radio, and the suspect had to receive staples at a hospital to stop the bleeding.

Clark called Victoria’s alleged actions “a betrayal of public trust and tarnish the shield,” and he is expected back in court on Dec. 3.

He was assigned to the 44th Precinct, near Yankee Stadium, which encompasses the southwest portion of the Bronx, for the last year, and joined the NYPD in 2015.

Victoria’s attorneys, Todd Spodek and Alex Zhik, said he would not be found guilty at trial.

In a statement to the New York Daily News , Spodek said: “Victoria has gone above and beyond in protecting the citizens of New York. We are confident that at trial, the truth will emerge and PO Victoria will be exonerated of any wrongdoing.”

Between 2017 and 2024 Victoria was named in nine complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board that accused him of abuse of authority, discourtesy and physical force, one of which was substantiated.

Kenny was named in seven known lawsuits that cost the department over $61,000 in settlements.