Nearly 18 months ago, a New York city police officer was accused of sodomizing a suspect in a train station in Brooklyn. Officer Richard Kern was facing 25 years in prison if convicted on charges of aggravated sexual abuse. His fellow officers, Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz would have gotten up to four years for hindering prosecution. Courtroom spectators were shocked to hear that officers were acquitted of all charges against them.

The plantiff in the case, Michael Mineo, is a self-professed gang member who admits to smoking marijuana regularly. These facts undermined his credibility to the prosecution and the jury.

"I'm glad the system works," Kern said outside court. "I knew coming in this I was innocent. I was going to stand up for my rights and prove my innocence."

Mineo didn't appear in the courtroom when the verdict was read, claiming that he expected that the officers would be acquitted.

"If you want to commit a murder, join the NYPD," Mineo said, referring to other cases where officers were tried and acquitted in shooting deaths. He said later that he feared for his safety, asking, "Who's going to police the police?"

Mineo has filed a $440-million dollar lawsuit against the city. His attorney, Stephen Jackson, said that the suit would continue as planned, without regard to the outcome of the criminal trial. They are also asking for federal support to get U.S. Marshalls to protect Mineo during the court proceedings.

Mineo, who is 25-years old, said that he was assaulted in a Brooklyn subway station in October of 2008, after the officers chased him for smoking marijuana on the street. He claims that he was handcuffed and that one of the officers sodomized him with a baton.

The Michael Mineo case was disturbing for a long list of reasons. Whether we believe his claims or not, the NYPD does not have the public trust necessary to validate their argument that nothing happened that night. In fact, this is a national problem with abuses in police authority, where good departments around the nation are infected with officers who refuse to have their authority questioned. I have personally witnessed police abuse up close, as have many millions of Americans across the country.

The fact that Mineo is a gang member who smokes marijuana makes the case even more complex, given that only squeaky clean citizens are believed to have the credibility needed to support their complaints of police abuse. The truth, however, is that most civil rights violations in America are committed against those who have a criminal record. So while the court made a case to argue that a pot-smoking gang member must be lying, the hope is that the system can become fair enough to realize that even the Michael Mineos of the world have the right to justice.

The final issue that makes this case interesting is that the Rev. Al Sharpton is involved and the victim in the case happens to be white. This is a good move for Sharpton, who I speak with on his radio show every Monday. It shows that he is committed to justice for people of every ethnicity, not just African Americans. This is a motive that most of us can appreciate.

This case, and others, such as that of Jordan Miles, the honor student who was beaten severely by police in Pittsburgh, will hopefully open the door to more serious analysis of how law enforcement conducts itself across America. Citizens should not be afraid of police, and sufficient oversight must be granted in order for officers to regain the trust they purport to deserve. Police abuse must come to an end, but good officers must also be given our respect. The balancing act is going to be difficult.