While the family of Diana Bolivar, a young woman found fatally stabbed in her Corona apartment right before New Year’s, memorialized her with a mass recently, police officials are investigating allegations that one of their own may have made inappropriate comments.
According to Raul Garcia, a lawyer retained by Paola Bolivar, Paola visited the 115th Precinct at least twice during the weekend after Christmas and again on Monday, December 28, in an attempt to file a missing person’s report.
On every occasion, officers explained to Paola that “she [Diana, 29] is an adult and it’s not uncommon for people to contact family on a daily basis. Go home and wait for her to call you,” Garcia said. The family has not complained that the desk officers erred in not file a missing person’s report.
However, Garcia said that on Monday – the day before the police discovered Diana’s body – when Paola visited the precinct again and this time with a friend who served as an interpreter, one of the English speaking officers made an inappropriate comment.
Repeating the words Paola used during a news conference, Garcia said that an officer asked her “how big is this individual” in regards to Diana’s live-in boyfriend, John German Castro Perez. Perez has not been named a suspect by the NYPD and may have fled the country to Colombia, according to Garcia.
The same officer then asked Paola if she was married and asked “who is bigger, this individual or your husband?”
When Paola responded her husband, she claims the officer said, “Maybe you might want to have your husband track this guy down and beat him up.”
The NYPD would not comment. However, Inspector John D. Lavelle, the Commanding Officer of the 115th Precinct, said that, “An internal investigation is still underway, and I cannot comment on anything and because everything is wrapped up together. We are looking into who was working and if anything improper was done we will look into it further.”
“We are not happy with any police service that treats anyone that way but we can’t be sure what was said,” the inspector said. “We want this precinct to be open to everyone.”
The 115th Precinct’s Community Affairs Officer, Adriane Johnson, said that the precinct hosts community council meetings within its building, has an explorer’s program for teenagers, participates in National Night Out and collaborates with community organizations on events, most recently handing out gifts to children during the holidays.
“There is also a language line within the precinct for people who don’t speak English,” she said about a telephone system with a human interpreter that is always on call.
Though Garcia said that Paola’s primary concern is to get a warrant for Perez’s arrest, he added that his services had been retained by the family to see if the NYPD has any fault.
“There is no confusion about what that [officer] said,” Garcia said.
