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SENTENCING OPINION AND ORDER NICKERSON, District Judge. On June 8, 1999, defendant Charles Schwarz was found guilty on Counts One and Four of a twelve-count superceding indictment. Count One charged Schwarz with conspiracy to deprive Abner Louima of his civil rights in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241, and Count Four charged him with violating Louima’s civil rights under color of law by striking and sexually assaulting him in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 242 and 2. After the verdict, Schwarz moved for a new trial. The Court denied the motion on July 28, 1999. See United States v. Volpe, 62 F.Supp.2d 887 (E.D.N.Y.1999) (“Volpe I”). Justin Volpe was also named as a defendant in Counts One and Four. Volpe pleaded guilty to these and other counts on May 25, 1999, and was sentenced by this Court on December 13, 1999. See United States v. Volpe, 78 F.Supp.2d 76 (E.D.N.Y.1999) (“Volpe II”). Count Twelve of the superceding indictment charged Schwarz and defendants Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese with conspiracy to obstruct justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. That count was severed and tried separately. On March 6, 2000, a second jury found Schwarz, Bruder and Wiese guilty of Count Twelve. The Court must sentence these defendants under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“the Guidelines”), unless the statute of conviction imposes mandatory sentence restrictions. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553; U.S.S.G. § 5G1.1 (1998). In separate Presentence Investigative Reports, all dated May 8, 2000 (the “Pre-sentence Reports”), the United States Probation Department calculated each defendant’s offense level under the Guidelines. Defendants object to various portions of those reports and seek several downward departures. This opinion and order sets forth the Court’s findings and conclusions as to the sentences the Court imposes on Bruder, Schwarz and Wiese. The details of the sentences appear in Appendix I to this opinion. I. Factual Background The exhibits and testimony in the record show the following. A. The Assault At Club Rendez-Vous At approximately 4:00 a.m. on August 9, 1997, New York City Police officers from the 70th Precinct were summoned to Club Rendez-Vous, a nightclub located on Flat-bush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Among them were Officers Justin Volpe, Thomas Bruder, Charles Schwarz, Thomas Wiese, Eric Turetzky and Mark Schofield. Volpe and Bruder were partners that night, although they did not typically work together. Schwarz and Wiese, regular partners, responded to the scene together. The officers attempted to disperse a large crowd that had gathered outside the club to watch a fight between two patrons. As the officers tried to push and urge the crowd away from the club, several of those gathered on the street became unruly, yelling and throwing bottles at the officers. During the incident, Volpe struggled with a Haitian patron named John Rejouis and eventually pushed Rejouis to the ground. Rejouis attempted to show Volpe his New York City Corrections Officer’s badge. Volpe slapped Rejouis’s hand and knocked the badge to the ground. Louima testified that he approached the crowd and heard Rejouis complaining that he had been hit by a police officer. Loui-ma began yelling angrily at the officers near Rejouis, including Volpe. Volpe attempted to push Louima away from the club, but Louima refused to move. As the confrontation escalated, Volpe was struck on the side of his head and knocked to the ground. Volpe thought Louima had hit him. In fact, Yves “Jay” Nicholas, Louima’s cousin, struck Volpe and then fled. Volpe and several other officers chased Nicholas up Flatbush Avenue. During the chase, Volpe encountered, assaulted, and arrested Patrick Antoine, an individual who had not been at the club and was simply on his way home. Volpe subsequently swore out a false complaint against Antoine. Meanwhile, Schwarz, Wiese and other officers were placing Louima in custody. Louima testified that, after yelling at the police regarding Volpe’s treatment of Re-jouis, he heard a male voice behind him say “shut up” and was hit in the back of the head and knocked to the ground. He said he was then lifted up and knocked to the ground again. Louima also testified that several officers began “punching [and] kicking me all over my body.” Other witnesses denied that Louima was beaten. Louima said one officer put a knee on his back and wrested his arms from underneath him in order to place him in handcuffs. Other witnesses gave somewhat different accounts of this sequence. Jay Nicholas testified that he saw Volpe push Louima from the fronf, turn him around, and push him from the back. Louima fell on his face, Nicholas said. Volpe and several other officers tried to place handcuffs on Louima, who was “tossing and turning in order for the police not to put handcuffs on him,” according to Nicholas. It was at that point that Nicholas “punched the police in his ear,” he said. Turetzky testified that he saw Schwarz and Wiese attempting to place Louima in handcuffs. Turetzky and another officer joined them, and together the officers brought Louima to the ground, his face hitting the asphalt. Turetzky said Louima struggled to avoid being handcuffed, and the officers used some force to pull Loui-ma’s right hand from underneath him and place it in handcuffs. Turetzky said he put his knee on the back of Louima’s leg, and another officer had a foot or knee on Louima’s neck. Schwarz testified that after he saw Volpe “go down,” he grabbed Louima by the arm and attempted to arrest him. Louima then pulled away and “started flailing his arms, and he struck me on the side of my head with his fist.” Wiese then came to Schwarz’s aid, and the officers “took Louima to the ground.” Schwarz also said that he injured his' left hand during the fall. Turetzky was asked whether he saw Louima “hitting any of the officers who were attempting to arrest him.” Turetzky said, “No, I did not.” To the 70th Precinct Once Louima was handcuffed, Schwarz and Wiese placed him in their patrol car to take him to the 70th Precinct. Schwarz was the driver of the patrol car, and Wiese was the passenger. At the first trial, Louima testified that both officers spoke to him during the drive, one of them telling him he should “go back to [his] country.” While Schwarz was driving Louima to the 70th Precinct, Sergeant Bellomo broadcast a description of the man who had assaulted Volpe. Although he was not the assailant, Louima matched the description. Louima testified that the patrol car made three stops en route to the station-house. The first was in the vicinity of Glenwood Road and Nostrand Avenue. The second stop was at Glenwood Road and Bedford Avenue, where Schwarz and Wiese radioed Bellomo that they had in custody a suspect in the assault on Volpe. Volpe and Bruder then drove to Glenwood and Bedford to identify Louima. Upon arrival, Volpe got out of his car and approached Louima, who was still in handcuffs in the back of the patrol car driven by Schwarz. Volpe taunted Louima and beat him on his head and face with a closed fist and a radio. Louima sustained lacerations and abrasions on his face and swelling in his mouth and around his eye. Schwarz and Wiese were charged with assaulting Louima at Glenwood and Nost-rand and at Glenwood and Bedford, and Bruder was charged with assaulting Loui-ma at Glenwood and Bedford. The jury in the first trial found the officers not guilty of these assaults. The third stop occurred as Schwarz and Wiese continued driving Louima to the 70th Precinct after the stop at Glenwood and Bedford. Louima testified that the passenger turned to look at him and told the driver that Louima was bleeding, and that the driver stopped the car briefly, looked back at Louima, and then continued driving. At the Front Desk Louima testified that, when they arrived at the stationhouse, the driver took him out of the car and led him to the front desk. Other witnesses testified that Schwarz and Wiese led Louima into the stationhouse together. A diagram of the ground floor of the 70th Precinct appears in Appendix II to this opinion and order. Records showed that Louima arrived at the front desk at 4:35 a.m. Schwarz searched Louima, removing his wallet and cash from his pockets. Schwarz and Sergeant Jeffrey Fallon, the desk officer then on duty, counted Louima’s money, and Schwarz filled out a “pedigree card” con-taming basic information on Louima. Following standard procedures, Schwarz removed Louima’s belt during the search. Turetzky testified that Louima’s pants fell down, and that Schwarz “left the pants down by Mr. Louima’s knees.” Louima testified that the driver pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees. Meanwhile, Volpe had arrived at the precinct. He saw Louima at the front desk and then walked to the Juvenile Questioning Room, where he grabbed a wooden broom stick and broke it over his knee. He placed the bottom of the stick behind a locker, then took the upper section to the bathroom and put it behind a garbage can. Volpe then left the bathroom and walked to the front desk, where Schwarz and Fal-lon were still processing Louima’s arrest. Volpe borrowed a pair of leather gloves from Officer Mark Schofield, who was standing near the front desk. Before Louima was led toward the back of the precinct, Wiese and Volpe argued over who would get credit for arresting Louima. It was decided that Volpe and Bruder would take the arrest, and that Bruder would complete the arrest paperwork while Volpe went to the hospital. Bruder then went to the Juvenile Processing Room to fill out the paperwork. To the Bathroom Schwarz testified at trial that he remained at the front desk area filling out the pedigree card and counting Louima’s money until after Louima was led away from the desk. Sergeant Fallon testified that Louima was not led away from the front desk until after the pedigree card was filled in and the cash was counted and returned to Louima. Fallon recorded the arrest in a “command log” at 4:50 a.m. He testified that he made that entry after the arrest paperwork was complete. The command log shows that Louima’s cash was “counted and returned pending vouchering” at that time. Turetzky told state investigators that he saw Schwarz “put the [pedigree] card on the top of the [front] desk” before Louima was lead away. Fallon recalled that, after receiving the completed pedigree card, he ordered that Louima be taken to a cell in the back of the stationhouse. Fallon testified that when he gave that order, Schwarz was “right up next to [Louima]” and “just pretty much [had] control of [him].” Schofield testified that at this time he was standing near the front desk area with a view down the hallway leading to the back of the stationhouse. He said he saw Schwarz leading Louima “from in front of the front desk, around [the front end of] the 124 Room, [and] toward the back area.” The two passed “two to three feet” in front of Schofield. He said Louima’s pants were down, but he did not see Loui-ma’s bare buttocks. Schofield also said that Louima “was rear handcuffed, and he was shuffling with his feet like his pants were restricting his movement.” Schofield said his last view of Louima and Schwarz was near the end of the hallway leading to the back of the station-house, “towards that top table corner of the 124 Room, out by the Juvenile Room.” Schofield did not tell investigators that he had seen Schwarz leading Louima toward the back until after he had been interviewed several times. He did reveal it to the federal grand jury in November, 1997. Turetzky said he saw Schwarz “escort Mr. Louima from the main desk area, around the 124 Room, toward ... the Arrest Room.” He also said Louima’s pants and underwear were around his ankles. Turetzky said: Officer Schwarz was holding Mr. Loui-ma’s arm, which was behind Mr. Loui-ma’s back, and because Schwarz was apparently much taller than Louima, Louima was raised off the ground and was shuffling along. Turetzky said he did not see Volpe in the area at this time. Turetzky also saw Schwarz take Louima to the end of the hallway near the door of the Arrest Processing Room, which contains the holding cells. “Instead of going into the Arrest Room, I observed them make a right and go around the 124 Room,” he said. He then saw Schwarz and Louima walking down a corridor that leads to the public bathroom and to two other rooms that are locked and inaccessible to patrolmen. Asked whether he saw Schwarz and Loui-ma “walk past the entranceway to the cell area,” Turetzky said “yes.” Turetzky lost sight of Schwarz and Louima approximately six feet from the door to the bathroom, and did not see them go inside the bathroom. In his first interview with Internal Affairs on August 10, 1997, the day after the assault and the same day that he had received surgery for his wounds, Louima said that two officers took him directly from the front desk to a holding cell, where he remained for about ten minutes before being taken to the bathroom. He also said that it was inside the bathroom that his pants were first pulled down. But on August 11, 1997, and in several grand jury appearances and at both trials, Louima said substantially the following. After being at the front desk, “the driver took me to the bathroom.” Louima’s pants and underwear were still around his knees, and the driver held him “with the chain of the handcuffs and push[ed] me.” Before entering the bathroom, Louima “heard somebody coming behind ... [a]nd I turned my head and there was ... Officer Volpe.” Inside the Bathroom Louima, Wiese and Volpe each gave a different account of what happened inside the bathroom. Schwarz and Bruder also testified as to the whereabouts of Schwarz and Wiese during the bathroom assault. The stories of Schwarz, Wiese, Bruder and Volpe are discussed elsewhere in this memorandum and order. Each of these stories conflicts with Louima’s testimony and pretrial statements. They also conflict to varying degrees with one another, with the medical evidence, and with the testimony of witnesses who saw Schwarz leading Louima toward the bathroom. Louima never definitively identified the driver as Charles Schwarz, either from photo arrays or in court. He testified at both trials that the “face ... and hair style” of the driver and passenger were similar, but that “the driver was bigger than the passenger.” When asked at the first trial by Schwarz’s counsel whether he could identify Schwarz in the courtroom as the driver, Louima said, “It looks like the driver but I’m not sure because the ... the driver and the passenger, they look alike.” Several aspects of Louima’s identification of “the driver” are corroborated by other evidence. For instance, he testified that the driver put handcuffs on him outside the nightclub, testimony corroborated by Schwarz. He also consistently stated that it was the driver who searched him at the front desk, and that the driver was “very close” to him during the search. Fallon, Turetzky, and Schwarz all testified that it was Schwarz who searched Louima. Louima’s description of the driver as “bigger” than the passenger was corroborated by photographs in evidence. And Loui-ma’s testimony that the driver led him from the front desk in the direction of the bathroom was also corroborated by Tu-retzky and Schofield. Beginning with his first interview with state investigators, which took place on August 10 while he was still in the hospital recovering from surgery, Louima consistently stated that there were two officers in the bathroom; that both took part in the assault; and that one of them was “the driver.” Louima’s testimony regarding what happened inside the bathroom is substantially as follows. Upon entering the bathroom, Volpe “pickfed] something by the garbage can” and told Louima, “I’m going to do something to you. If you yell or make any noise, I’ll kill you.” Louima testified at trial that Volpe then pushed him to the floor, with his head near one of the toilets. On August 12, 1997, while still in the hospital, Louima told Lieutenant Reinaldo Daniels of Internal Affairs that “the driver pushed me to the ground.” Louima said that Volpe then kicked Louima in the groin. Volpe denied doing so, but medical evidence showed that Loui-ma’s penis was significantly swollen when he arrived at the hospital. Louima testified at the second trial that when he cried out in pain, “the driver put his foot on my mouth [and said] ‘Shut up.’ ” At the first trial, Louima stated that after Volpe kicked him, “I yell [and] he put his foot in my mouth” (emphasis added). On cross-examination at both trials, Louima reiterated that it was “the driver” who put his foot on Louima’s mouth. Louima testified at the second trial that Volpe then “punch[ed] me, very angry, kick[ed] me all over my body.” At the first trial, he testified that, after he was kicked in the groin, “both [officers] started hitting me, punching me” (emphasis added). In testimony before the state grand jury, which was videotaped on August 15, 1997, the following exchange took place: Question: The other guy also struck you while you were inside the bathroom? Answer: Yes, yes. Question: So they were both working together to hurt you, do you know? Answer: Yes, both of them. Louima testified at the second trial that, while he was lying on the floor, the door to the bathroom opened and closed, but that he did not see who had opened it. He did not say this to state investigators, to the state or federal grand juries, or in testimony at the first trial. The driver then lifted Louima partially off the floor by the handcuffs, according to Louima. At the first trial he said that “the driver pull me off by the handcuff,” and at the second trial he said that the driver “pullfed] me up, holding the chain of the handcuffs.” • With the driver holding Louima in this position, “Officer Volpe put an object in my rectum.” The medical evidence showed that Volpe forced the broken broomstick approximately six inches inside Louima, puncturing his rectum and bladder. Volpe removed the stick, which was covered with Louima’s feces, and held it in front of Louima’s mouth and taunted him. Volpe then slammed the stick against the wall, leaving traces of feces. In an interview on August 11, 1997, the following exchange took place between Louima and Lieutenant Daniels: Question: So the same cop that put the handcuffs on you in the street is the same cop that put the stick in your rectum? Answer: Yes. Later in that interview, Louima answered “yes” when asked whether it was the driver who placed him in handcuffs and wielded the stick inside the bathroom. But he also identified Volpe from photographs as the one who had sodomized him. Louima testified that he had no recollection of that interview, which took place in the hospital two days after the assault, and was unaware that it had taken place until he later heard a tape recording. In videotaped testimony to the state grand jury that Louima delivered from his hospital bed on August 15, 1997, he was asked the following questions and gave the following answers: Question: [W]hile this object was being pushed into your body, what was the other guy doing? Answer: I don’t know. Question: Was anybody holding you? Answer: No. Louima explained that he made these statements were made while he was medicated and “in constant pain and I was very, very afraid that I was going to die. I have tubes all over hay body.” The statements are also contradicted by his testimony in both trials and before the federal grand jury in February of 1998. At the first trial, Louima said that the driver was “holding me on the chain of that handcuff and my head was facing down.” Louima said he was “on my feet, but my face [was] down, like bent over.” The driver was “facing me, but holding me with the handcuff.” The jury in that trial found Schwarz guilty of participating in the bathroom assault. At the second trial, Louima stated that “I was on my feet, but the way he was holding me is like my head was under his arm, and he was holding the handcuffs.” Before the federal grand jury, Louima testified as follows: Question: If Officer Volpe put the stick into your rectum, was anyone holding you? Answer: Yes. Question: Who was holding you? Answer: The driver. Both Turetzky and Schofield gave testimony regarding the location of Wiese during this period. Turetzky testified that, as he saw Schwarz escorting Louima away from the front desk and toward the back, Wiese was “at the main desk area with the second prisoner, Mr. Antoine.” Turetzky told Internal Affairs that Wiese was in a position to see Schwarz and Louima leaving the desk. Schofield said that, after he saw Schwarz leading Louima toward the back of the precinct, he briefly went into the 124 Room, then returned to the front desk area. “A few minutes” later, he saw Wiese talking to Fallon at the front desk. Scho-field and several other officers, including Wiese, stayed in that general area for approximately “ten minutes,” at which point Volpe “walked out from the back area” and “gave back the gloves that he borrowed.” Schofield was also asked whether he saw Schwarz near the front desk after seeing Schwarz take Louima toward the back, and before Volpe returned Schofield’s gloves. Schofield said “no.” After the Assault With Louima crying and in severe pain, the driver began to lead him out of the bathroom. Before they left the bathroom, Volpe told Louima, “If you tell anybody about this, I’ll find you and kill you and your whole family.” Louima testified that just outside the bathroom door, “[Volpe] said he ‘got me,’ ” and then took Louima from the driver and led him to a holding cell, with Louima’s pants and underwear around his ankles. Volpe put Louima in a cell and told Loui-ma to get onto his knees. Volpe then left the cell area, placed the stick in an unknown location, and returned the leather gloves, now covered with Louima’s blood, to Schofield. After being placed in the holding cell, Louima asked a police officer to call an ambulance. The same officer later came into Louima’s cell, took off his handcuffs, told him to pull his pants up, and retrieved a shoe that had fallen off of Louima’s foot. The officer later brought Louima a chair to sit on while he was treated by paramedics. Louima told F.B.I. agents that this officer “saved my life.” Louima could not identify the officer, but the evidence indicates that it was Bruder. Several of the officers involved in the events outside the nightclub, including Volpe, Schwarz, Wiese and Schofield, went to the New York Community Hospital on the morning of August 9, 1999, to be treated for minor injuries. Sergeant Fallon’s log shows the officers leaving for the hospital at 5:05 a.m. Volpe rode to the hospital in a patrol car with Schofield and Barr; Wiese and Schwarz rode together. Schofield testified that he, Barr and Volpe arrived at the hospital first, and that Volpe waited outside for a few moments, then came in with Wiese and Schwarz. In the waiting area of the hospital, Scho-field overheard Volpe say “I broke a man down.” Schofield said that Volpe was sitting next to Wiese when he made this statement, and Schwarz was about six feet away. After returning to the 70th Precinct, Volpe encountered Louima sitting outside his cell on the chair provided by Bruder. Volpe cursed at Louima, pulled the chair away from him, and told him to return to the cell and get down on his knees. Louima testified that Volpe later came to Louima’s cell once more and “put his hand under my chin and tell me [to] look him in the eyes, and he tell me if I ever talk to anyone about what happened to me he’ll kill me and everybody in my family.” Later that morning, Volpe told Sergeant Kenneth Wernick what he had done to Louima, saying “I took a man down tonight.” Volpe also showed the stick used in the sexual assault to Wernick and Officer Michael Schoer, and later threw the broom handle into a trash bin outside the precinct. Approximately four hours after the bathroom assault, Louima and Antoine were taken to Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn. Antoine received stitches and was discharged later that day. Louima was treated for internal injuries to his bladder and rectum, as well as head injuries and a laceration over his eye. On the evening of August 9, 1997, doctors surgically repaired a two-centimeter perforation to Louima’s rectum and a three-centimeter perforation to his bladder. Doctors also performed colostomy and cys-tostomy procedures. Louima remained hospitalized for two months until October 10,1997. Among the complications he suffered was an intestinal blockage requiring emergency surgery and the implantation of a colostomy bag. Louima underwent surgery again in February 1998 to remove the colostomy bag. After his release from the hospital, Louima received medical and psychiatric treatment on an outpatient basis and continued to suffer severe headaches, abdominal pain and insomnia. B. The Conspiracy State officials began investigating the assaults of Abner Louima on August 10, 1997, and federal officials opened an investigation on August 13, 1997. Count Twelve of the superceding indictment charged that, beginning in the days immediately following the assault and continuing until December of 1997, Wiese, Bruder, Schwarz and others conspired to obstruct the federal grand jury investigation into the sexual assault of Louima. The indictment alleged that “it was part of the conspiracy that [Bruder and Wiese] would provide false and misleading information to federal and local law enforcement officials in an effort to exculpate [Schwarz] with respect to the sexual assault.” The evidence of conspiracy fell largely into three categories. First, the government introduced evidence, discussed above, regarding the events of August 9, 1997. Second, the government introduced evidence of a series of statements defendants made to law enforcement officials and others during the state and federal investigations. Through these statements, defendants put forward several different and often conflicting versions of the events of August 9, 1997. Changes in these stories over time corresponded to developments in the investigations, including most prominently the arrest of Schwarz on August 15, 1997. The indictment charged that two of these statements — one by Wiese to state investigators on August 17, 1997, and one by Bruder to federal investigators on November 8, 1997 — constituted overt acts of the conspiracy. The third category of evidence showed extensive communications between the defendants and others in the weeks and months following the assault on Louima. These communications included more than 250 telephone calls between various of the conspirators between August 9, 1997 and February 5, 1998, many of them at key points during the investigations. The government asserted that the timing of these communications, as well as their substance, where corroborated, indicated that the phone calls constituted overt acts of the conspiracy.. One of the parties to the phone calls was Anthony Abbate, a close friend of Schwarz and a former police officer and Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (“P.B.A.”) representative from the 70th Precinct. The government introduced evidence regarding the nature of Schwarz’s relationship with Abbate, and Abbate testified at trial. There was also evidence that defendants and a P.B.A. official met in the basement of the 70th Precinct to discuss their response to Louima’s allegations, and that Schwarz and Wiese had several opportunities to speak in person. 1. August 10 — 12 On August 10, 1997, the Internal Affairs Bureau of the New York City Police Department began an investigation into the events at the 70th Precinct. That afternoon, Sergeant William Hargrove of Internal Affairs tried to interview Louima, who was recovering from surgery and unable to speak. Hargrove returned later and succeeded in interviewing Louima, who responded to questions only with difficulty. After questioning Louima, Hargrove went directly from the hospital to the 70th Precinct, where he and other officers declared the bathroom a crime scene and searched for evidence. Wiese and Schwarz were on patrol on the morning of August 11, 1997 and came to the stationhouse for a meal break at approximately 4:08 a.m. A rumor had spread inside the precinct that Internal Affairs was investigating a sexual assault in the ground floor bathroom. Shortly after Schwarz and Wiese went back on patrol, they drove to a public telephone and made three calls using Schwarz’s calling card. At 6:12 a.m., a three-minute call was placed to Bruder’s home; at 6:16 a.m., a six-minute call was placed to Yolpe’s home; and at 6:18 a.m., Schwarz placed a thirty-eight minute call to Anthony Abbate. Anthony Abbate To explain Schwarz’s relationship with Abbate and his possible intent in calling Abbate at key points during the Louima investigation, the government introduced evidence regarding an earlier incident at the 70th Precinct involving Abbate and Schwarz. On August 5, 1994, Abbate had an argument with Officer Carmen Martinez (then named Rodriguez) in the basement of the 70th Precinct. Witnesses said that Abbate used profanity toward Martinez many times during their confrontation. Abbate was charged by the Police Department with discourtesy to another officer and with lying under oath by denying that he used profanity toward Martinez. These charges were the last of many disciplinary actions against Abbate during his twelve years on the police force. He was tried by the department four times, each time on multiple charges; disciplined for dozens of infractions; suspended; placed on disciplinary probation; and placed in a special disciplinary monitoring program. On October 28 and 29, 1996, the Police Department tried Abbate on the charges stemming from the Martinez incident, and on discourtesy charges involving a second police officer. Schwarz testified at that trial on Abbate’s behalf and corroborated Abbate’s version of the confrontation with Martinez. Schwarz said he was “approximately five to ten feet” from the confrontation, and that he “absolutely [did] not” hear Abbate use profanity. Schwarz repeated this position in testimony at the second trial of this case, stating that “I never heard [Abbate] use the ‘F word’ during the argument.” Both Martinez and Officer Denise Ortiz, who witnessed the ensuing confrontation, said that Abbate used the word “fuck” in speaking to Martinez approximately “every third word.” Ortiz said he used the word a total of approximately thirty times. Schwarz also denied that he had discussed his testimony with Abbate, or even the fact that he planned to testify, prior to appearing at the departmental trial. Ab-bate testified before this Court that he and Schwarz had discussed the Rodriguez incident, and that Abbate had called Schwarz to testify on his behalf at the departmental trial. On December 5,1996, the administrative judge found Abbate guilty of lying under oath when he denied using profanity toward Martinez, and of discourtesy toward another officer in a second incident. Ab-bate was dismissed from the police force a few days later. The Police Department never instituted disciplinary action against Schwarz on the basis of his testimony at the departmental trial. Schwarz also allegedly attempted to intimidate witnesses who were testifying against Abbate at the departmental trial. Ortiz testified before this Court that, while she was waiting to testify at the departmental trial, Schwarz stared in an intimidating manner at her and other witnesses. Ortiz and Martinez also testified that Schwarz sat inside the courtroom during their testimony and “stared” at them. Ortiz testified that, a few days after the trial, she and another officer who had testified against Abbate received identical anonymous letters in interoffice envelopes stating in substance that “you’re a rat” and “you ought to be ashamed of wearing blue.” Schwarz was still assigned to 70th Precinct, but Abbate had been transferred away. Ortiz said she approached Schwarz and accused him of sending the letter to her and threatened to report it. Schwarz “said nothing” in response, but “just laughed and chuckled at me.” Ortiz took the letter to the precinct’s executive officer, but the matter was never pursued. Abbate and Schwarz remained close after Abbate was fired from the police department. Telephone Calls — Anthony Abbate Telephone records showed only nine calls between Schwarz’s home phone and Abbate’s home phone in the two months leading up to August 9, 1997. None of these calls were placed before 11:18 a.m. By comparison, from August 9 to August 17, 1997, eleven calls were placed between phones used by Schwarz and Abbate’s home phone. The first of these calls was placed from Schwarz’s home phone to Ab-bate’s home phone at 10:32 on the morning of August 9, 1997, shortly after Schwarz arrived home from the shift during which Louima was assaulted. The second was the call from the telephone booth using Schwarz’s calling card on the morning of August 11, 1997, shortly after Schwarz and Wiese learned that Internal Affairs was investigating the assault. Schwarz acknowledged calling Abbate early on the morning of August 11. Schwarz testified that he and Wiese had not discussed up to that point whether anything had happened inside the bathroom. He said he phoned Abbate, whom he called a “good friend” and a “very experienced [P.B.A.] delegate,” to discuss his “concerns” about the investigation. Specifically, Schwarz said he was worried that being placed on modified duty would interfere with family obligations, and that the incident could jeopardize a transfer application he had submitted. Schwarz said Abbate advised him in that conversation to “seek some type of legal counsel.” Schwarz did not retain a lawyer until several days later. Between August 12 and August 16,1997, nine more calls were placed between phones used by Schwarz and Abbate’s home phone, including two calls from Schwarz while he was in detention following his arrest. Schwarz used telephones in the supervisor’s office at Central Booking, rather than the pay phones normally used by detainees. Abbate and Schwarz both confirmed at trial that they spoke several times during this period and discussed Louima’s allegations. Abbate said Schwarz expressed his concern over the allegations, but denied advising Schwarz on how to thwart the investigation. Schwarz denied talking to Abbate about whether he took part in the bathroom assault. But Abbate testified that Schwarz told him in these conversations that he had brought Louima into the precinct, searched him, led him away from the desk, and “handed [him] over to Justin Volpe.” Abbate told the federal grand jury that Schwarz told him that, after handing Louima over to Volpe, Schwarz “was by the desk speaking to the desk sergeant.” The government also introduced evidence of calls between Wiese and Abbate. There were no calls between Abbate’s home phone and phones used by Wiese in the two months prior to August 9, 1997. Asked whether it was true that, before the incident on [August] 9 of 1997, [Abbate] had not spoken to [Wiese] on the telephone in years, Abbate said, “that could very be a fact, yes.” Between August 9 and August 17, there were nine calls between Abbate’s home phone and phones used by Wiese, and an additional fifteen calls between August 19 and November 14,1997. 2. August 12 On August 12, 1997, Lieutenant Daniels of Internal Affairs interviewed Louima at Coney Island Hospital. Louima was still under arrest, handcuffed to his bed and guarded by a uniformed police officer whom Daniels asked to leave before the interview. At approximately 8:00 p.m. on August 12, a local television station, New York 1, reported Louima’s allegations of sexual assault. Telephone records showed twenty calls between phones used by Wiese, Schwarz, Bruder and Abbate on August 12 alone, the first of them a thirteen minute call from Wiese’s home phone to Schwarz’s home phone at 2:10 a.m. Eleven of these calls, and a twelfth just after midnight on August 13, occurred within a few hours after the story broke on New York 1. 3. August 13 — 14 On the morning of August 13, 1997, the New York Daily News reported Louima’s allegations in a front page story. Also on that morning, Volpe, Bruder, Wiese and Schwarz all reported to police headquarters to be placed on “modified” duty. Telephone records showed six calls between phones used by Wiese, Bruder, Schwarz and Abbate on the morning of August 13, after the story hit the newspapers and before the defendants reported to police headquarters. The Basement Meeting Later on August 13, Wiese, Schwarz, Bruder and Volpe met in the basement of the 70th Precinct with Michael Immitt, a patrol officer and a trustee of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (“P.B.A.”) for the Brooklyn South region, which includes the 70th Precinct. Volpe’s brother, Officer Damien Volpe, was also present at the meeting. Damien Volpe worked at the 70th Precinct and was a P.B.A. delegate. Hugo Ortega, an attorney with the law firm that at the time represented the P.B.A., testified for the defense that he was also present at the basement meeting. The government argued that the purpose of the meeting was to devise a strategy in response to Louima’s allegations, and that the conspirators followed that strategy until it was made untenable by further advances in the investigation. Immitt testified that Wiese opened the meeting by saying in substance “that there was an incident over the weekend at a bar and they took prisoners in, and I think one of the prisoners was making some kind of an allegation.” The rest of the meeting was “mainly Justin Volpe” speaking, saying that “the prisoner” was making some allegation against him but not saying specifically what the allegation was. Immitt also testified that he told Volpe at that meeting to get an attorney before speaking to Internal Affairs. He also told the rest of the officers “not to discuss [the allegations] with anybody.” Immitt told the federal grand jury that he said “sit tight, don’t talk about it. Don’t talk to anyone unless something official comes down and, if it does, call me, I’ll get an attorney down here.” The entire meeting took approximately twenty to thirty minutes, according to Im-mitt. Deputy Inspector James Burns of Internal Affairs testified that Wiese said that the meeting consisted of “a discussion of ... what happened, what the ‘suits’ thing [the Internal Affairs investigation] was all about.” Wiese described Bruder as being “very nervous, concerned.” According to Burns, Wiese said Volpe “pulled him to the side and [said] ‘they have nothing, there’s no stick.’ ” Volpe also reportedly told Wiese “that he didn’t do anything.” According to Wiese, “Volpe tried to make up a story where Abner Louima did this to himself; that all ... Volpe did was take him to the bathroom. T didn’t even go in there.’ ” Special Agent Richard DeFihppo of the F.B.I. said that Bruder told federal investigators that at the basement meeting, the officers “met with their union representatives and discussed what had occurred.” Bruder told investigators that it was at or just before this meeting that he first learned that Louima was alleging he had been sexually assaulted. DeFelippo testified that Bruder described Volpe as repeatedly saying “ ‘It’s all allegations.’ ” DeFilippo was not sure whether Bruder said Volpe made that statement at or just before the basement meeting. Schwarz testified that he arrived late at the meeting. He said “the only thing I recall [being said] is [Immitt] saying we were getting legal counsel.” Schwarz denied hearing any discussion of the substance of Louima’s allegations, or that he asked other officers what happened at the meeting before he arrived. Immitt told the federal grand jury that in the days after the basement meeting, he attended roll calls for each of the three shifts at the 70th Precinct and told the officers “not to talk about the incident.” He said he did so “for the four [officers] involved,” in part because he “knew Internal Affairs was around the stationhouse.” On the evening of August 13, Internal Affairs arrested Volpe. Telephone records show another flurry of phone calls, at least eight in all, between phones used by the defendants and by Abbate in the hours following Volpe’s arrest. Also on August 13, the F.B.I. commenced a federal investigation into the assaults on Louima. On August 14, 1997, Newsday reported that the federal government had begun to investige the assaults on Louima. There were sixteen calls between phones used by Wiese, Schwarz, Bruder and Ab-bate on August 14. All told, there were fifty-seven calls between phones used by the defendants from August 11 to August 14, 1997, and another twelve between Abbate’s home phone and phones used by Schwarz and Wiese. 4. August 15 Early on the morning of August 15, 1997, Eric Turetzky spoke to investigators from Internal Affairs and Brooklyn South Investigations, an arm of the Police Department that investigates certain allegations of misconduct. Among other things, Turetzky said he saw Schwarz leading Louima in the direction of the bathroom and Volpe carrying a stick as he led Loui-ma to the holding cell. Earlier that week, Turetzky had a brief encounter with Damien Volpe outside the stationhouse. As the two passed by each other, Damien Volpe said “stick together [or] ... something to th[at] effect.” Turetzky also he said that on August 15, as he came out of the office in the 70th Precinct in which he first spoke to investigators, he was “confronted” by another P.B.A. delegate from the precinct named Timothy Lee. According to Turetzky, Lee “appeared very upset with me,” and said, “ ‘What are you doing in there?’ And I said, ‘You know what I’m doing in there.’ And he said, ‘why?’ ” Internal Affairs officers then “cleared the precinct of anybody I may know” before escorting Turetzky from the building. Also on August 15, Internal Affairs recovered the portion of the broomstick that Volpe had hidden in the Juvenile Room before assaulting Louima. The portion of the broomstick used in the assault was never recovered. At approximately 7:30 p.m. on August 15, Schwarz was arrested and taken to Central Booking in Brooklyn, where he was held until Monday, August 18. Wiese’s Statement to Immitt Before Schwarz’s arrest, Wiese spoke with Michael Immitt regarding the events inside the 70th Precinct on August 9, 1997. Immit testified that Wiese’s story was substantially as follows. After Wiese and Schwarz brought Louima to the station-house, Schwarz searched Louima at the front desk. Schwarz “started to walk him away from the desk,” and then Volpe arrived and “took control” of Louima in the front hallway near the desk. Immit testified that according to Wiese, Volpe, acting alone, then “took Louima to the back of the precinct,” while Wiese and Schwarz remained near the front desk. Wiese told Immitt that he briefly spoke to Bruder in the back of the precinct, then returned to the front desk area. Wiese also told Immitt that Schwarz remained near the front desk “in the front of the stationhouse” until they left together for the hospital. Schwarz’s Statement to Immitt Immitt testified that he visited Schwarz at Central Booking on the night of August 15, and that Schwarz told him “basically the same story that Wiese did.” Specifically, Schwarz told Immitt that he took Louima to the front desk, searched him and filled out paperwork, started to walk him away from the desk, and was confronted by Volpe, who wanted credit for the arrest. Acording to Immitt, Schwarz said that “Volpe took the prisoner” toward the back of the precinct by himself. Immitt said he asked Schwarz whether he took Louima to the bathroom, and Schwarz said “ ‘absolutely not. Volpe, I know, walked away with that prisoner by himself.’ ” Schwarz told Immitt that after Volpe left with Louima, he “stayed in the front of the stationhouse,” according to Immitt. Immitt was 'asked at trial whether Schwarz indicated “that he never left the vicinity of the front desk,” and Immitt answered, “Correct.” 5. August 16 — 18 Bruder’s First Statement In the afternoon of Saturday, August 16, Captain Kevin Gilmartin and Captain Dennis McManus of Internal Affairs interviewed Thomas Bruder at the College Point Auto Pound, where he was serving on modified duty. Bruder’s statements on this date paralleled what Wiese and Schwarz had earlier said to Immitt. Bruder told Gilmartin that he had seen “Officer Volpe take the prisoner, Abner Louima, from the desk area and head directly to the bathroom.” Bruder said that Louima’s pants were up at the time. Gilmartin did not specifically recall whether he asked Bruder if other officers accompanied Volpe and Louima, but said that Bruder insisted he had told Gilmartin everything he knew. According to Gilmartin, Bruder said he then went into the Juvenile Room to process the paperwork for Louima’s arrest. Approximately 15 minutes later, he entered the Arrest Processing Room and saw Louima in a holding cell. Bruder said he helped Louima up, found his shoe, and told him he would get an ambulance. Bruder also told Gilmartin that he searched Louima in the Arrest Processing Room for any property that may need to be vouchered. Gilmartin testified that Bruder said “he removed [Louima’s] wallet and inside [it] ... found an advertisement or a business card for an all male sex club,” which he subsequently threw away. Media Coverage Also on August 16, 1997, the New York Times and the Neto York Post reported the federal investigation into the assaults on Louima. The Daily News reported that federal authorities might prosecute Volpe and Schwarz for civil rights violations. Several newspapers also reported that an unidentified officer had spoken to investigators and identified Schwarz as the officer who had taken Louima toward the bathroom. Telephone Calls The newspaper reports of August 16 were inconsistent with what Schwarz and Wiese had told Immitt and what Bruder told state investigators, namely, that Volpe had acted alone in taking Louima to the bathroom. The government argued that these statements were part of the conspirators’ initial strategy, in which they would say that Volpe acted alone; that Wiese and Schwarz, in consultation with Abbate and later joined by Bruder, devised a new strategy on August 16 and 17; and that the revised strategy was implemented through statements to investigators by Wiese on August 17 and by Bruder on August 18 and November 8. After the newspaper reports appeared on August 16, there was a series of calls to and from Wiese and other officers at the 70th Precinct. Indeed, on August 16 alone, telephone records showed thirteen phone calls among Schwarz, Bruder, Wiese and Abbate. The first two were placed from Wiese’s cell phone to Abbate’s home phone roughly five hours after Schwarz’s arrest. At 1:48 p.m., while Bruder was giving his first statement to state investigators, a thirty-nine minute phone call was placed from a phone used by Wiese to Abbate’s home phone, one of five calls between phones used by Wiese and Abbate that day. Immediately after this call, two calls were placed from Wiese’s phone to the phone used by Schwarz in Central Booking. A fourteen-minute call was placed from the phone used by Schwarz in Central Booking to Abbate’s home phone at 5:50 that afternoon, when the officer in whose office the phone was located was on a meal break. Later that evening, a twenty-two-minute call was placed between a phone used by Wiese and the phone used by Schwarz in Central Booking. These were followed immediately by two calls, each lasting one minute or less, between Wiese’s phone and Abbate’s home phone. Abbate said that Wiese called him that day in part to discuss what Wiese would say in his interview with state investigators the following day. 6. August 17 Early on the morning of August 17, 1997, Schofield told Internal Affairs investigators that, on the morning of August 9, Volpe had borrowed leather gloves from him and returned them covered with blood. Wiese’s Statement to Internal Affairs Also on August 17, Wiese gave a statement to representatives of the King’s County District Attorney’s Office and Internal Affairs. Before the interview, Wiese’s attorney negotiated a proffer agreement under which the District Attorney agreed not to use Wiese’s statements against him except in a prosecution for perjury or obstruction of justice. Wiese was granted no immunity from Police Department proceedings. Deputy Inspector Burns was present at Wiese’s proffer session. He testified that Wiese gave substantially the following story. As Schwarz searched Louima, filled out the pedigree card and counted Louima’s cash at the front desk, Wiese and Volpe argued over who would get credit for the arrest. Sergeant Michael Bellomo intervened and gave the arrest to Volpe. Wiese and Volpe then led Louima away from the desk together. As they neared the cell area, “Volpe pulls on Abner Loui-ma, makes a very sharp right and all of a sudden starts heading off towards the bathroom ... and ultimately into the bathroom.” Volpe told Wiese that “he wanted to clean up the prisoner,” according to Burns. The stationhouse dog, named “Midnight,” “tried to follow Officer Volpe into the bathroom, but Officer Wiese stopped the dog in front of the bathroom.” According to Burns, Wiese said that shortly after Volpe and Louima entered the bathroom, Wiese heard a “scuffle” inside, and “the sound of a body hitting the floor ... once and then twice more immediately after that.” Wiese said that he thought “maybe Officer Volpe was ‘tuning up’ Abner Louima.” After hearing these sounds, Wiese remained outside the bathroom door “petting Midnight the dog” for a period of “about two minutes,” according to Burns. When questioned by Burns, Wiese stated that “it could have been a little less than two minutes.” Wiese then opened the bathroom door and went inside, along with the dog. Once inside, he “cried out” to Volpe, saying “ ‘what are you, crazy? What’s going on?’ ” Wiese saw Louima “handcuffed [and] face down on his belly on the floor of the bathroom with his head between the toilet ... and the wall.” Volpe stood over Louima with his foot on Louima’s back, “bending down in a crouched position holding a stick in his hands.” Louima’s pants and underwear were below his knees, and Wiese saw feces but no blood on Louima’s buttocks. Volpe said to Wiese, “ ‘he shit his pants; he shit himself,’ ” according to Burns. Burns said he asked Wiese “a series of questions regarding Officer Volpe’s hands.” He asked Wiese “maybe five to seven different ways” what he saw. Wiese said that he could see Volpe’s hands, fingers and palms, and that he could not see blood on Volpe’s hands or fingers or under his fingernails. “Mr. Wiese’s attorney asked ... specifically, ‘did Officer Volpe have gloves on in the bathroom,’ to which Officer Wiese responded, ‘no.’ ” Wiese then went to Louima, “grabbing [him] by either the ankles or the calves ... and pulling him out ..., lifting [him] up while he was still rear handcuffed ... and pulling him to his feet.” Wiese was leading Louima out of the bathroom when he heard something, turned around, and saw Volpe “with his hand on Abner Louima’s neck and chin with Abner against the right wall and Volpe holding the stick ... by Abner Loui-ma’s mouth.” Wiese grabbed Louima and again began heading for the door when “he hears ... the sound of a punch being thrown, ... turns around again and sees [Louima] crumpled over, hunched over and now crying, and [Volpe] with his fist sort of like in [Louima’s] belly or stomach area.” Volpe then “took the stick and flung it ... [into] the metal garbage can.” Wiese said the stick did not make a noise as it landed. Wiese finally led Louima out of the bathroom and walked him “to the right and into the Arrest Processing Room,” with he and Volpe each holding one of Louima’s arms. Wiese left the Arrest Processing Room and returned to the vicinity of the front desk. He told the investigators that Schwarz was “still at the desk doing what he had been doing before with the pedigree [card] and the money.” According to Burns, On all occasions when he was asked or volunteered where Officer Schwarz was physically in the stationhouse, Officer Wiese puts Officer Schwarz at the desk doing the counting of the funds, the obtaining the pedigree information ... or things that Sergeant Fallon would need for transposing the [command log]. According to Wiese, he did not see Schwarz leave the front desk area “until they went to the hospital.” Wiese said that while he and Schwarz were driving to the hospital, “he told [Schwarz] what happened in the bathroom, but he may not have told him about the stick and the feces.” Wiese also said that at the hospital, Volpe told him that he “got a little carried away,” and stated that “that’s the second guy I made shit his pants.” Wiese said that when he and Schwarz saw “suits” — meaning Internal Affairs investigators — in the stationhouse on the morning of August 11, 1997, he guessed that they were looking into what had occurred inside the bathroom. When he and Schwarz went back out on patrol that morning, Wiese told Schwarz what he had seen in the bathroom, “and this time he tells him about the stick and the feces. He doesn’t leave anything out.” Bruder’s Second Statement On Monday, August 18, 1997, Bruder’s attorney approached Captain Gilmartin to discuss a possible proffer agreement similar to that entered into by Wiese on the previous day. Bruder’s attorney told Gil-martin that Bruder could provide certain information regarding the events of August 9, 1997. The proffered version was different in critical respects from Bruder’s statement of August 16, and similar in key respects to Wiese’s statement of August 17. The parties stipulated that Bruder’s attorney offered substantially the following story. “Bruder had observed Volpe and Wiese escorting Louima toward the bathroom.” Bruder also saw “Volpe go into the bathroom with Louima while Wiese waited outside near the bathroom door playing with a stray dog.” “[S]ometime later Bruder was told by Volpe that Volpe had struck Louima in the ass with a stick.” When Gilmartin asked Bruder’s attorney what kind of stick Volpe had spoken about, the attorney left to speak with his client. He returned and told Gilmartin that it was a “mop handle.” Bruder claimed that before he saw Volpe and Wiese escorting Louima into the bathroom, the dog “defecated on the floor outside the bathroom and Bruder cleaned it up with a mop and put the mop against [a wall] near the bathroom.” 7. August 25 through November 8 On August 25, 1997, Internal Affairs closed its investigation into the assaults on Louima. On August 27, 1997, the federal grand jury was empaneled. On November 6, 1997, Special Agent DeFilippo served Bruder with a grand jury subpoena seeking his memo book from August of 1997. Between August 18 and November 15, 1997, there were 106 calls between phones used by Wiese, Schwarz, Abbate and Bru-der. There are no records of any calls between Abbate and Bruder. But between August 9 and February 28, 1997, there were 118 calls between phones used by Wiese and Bruder on the same day as, and often within a few minutes or hours of, calls between phones used by Wiese and Abbate. Of these, twenty-eight calls occurred before November 8,1997. Bruder’s Third Statement On November 8, 1997, Bruder made his third statement regarding the events of August 9, this time to F.B.I. agents and representatives of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Bruder’s statement of November 8 was substantially the same as his August 18 statement and Wiese’s August 17 statement. Special Agent DeFillipo testified that Bruder stated in substance the following: Louima was being escorted by Officers Volpe and Wiese towards the bathroom in the back of the stationhouse. As they approached the bathroom, Volpe escorted Louima into the bathroom and Wiese stepped to the rear so they could enter ... and either lagged behind or stayed in the doorway, but then Bruder entered the Juvenile Room and lost sight of him As Louima was led toward the bathroom, his pants were “in a standard regular position, up at his waist.” A short while later, according to DeFi-lippo, “Volpe stated to Bruder, and I quote, T whacked him in the ass with a mop handle.’ ” Bruder then went into the cell area, saw Louima on his knees with his pants down. Louima “appeared to be ‘cracked up,’ and drunk, and his front teeth were missing.” Bruder also said that Louima’s property included “a yellow and black promotion card that bore ‘pictures of guys with no shirts,’ and it was an advertisement for an ‘all-male revue.’ ” Bruder said he threw the card out. Agent Joseph Foelsch served Bruder with a subpoena on December 30, 1998, seeking “(1) items belonging to Abner Louima or (2) items taken, seized or otherwise removed from Abner Louima on or about August 9, 1997.” Foelsch testified that Bruder told him, “Anything I took I vouchered. I don’t have anything.” C. Indictment and Trial The federal grand jury returned an indictment on February 26, 1998, and a su-perceding indictment on March 3, 1998. Volpe, Schwarz, Bruder and Wiese all voluntarily surrendered to the F.B.I. on February 26,1998. The first trial began on May 4, 1999. Justin Volpe pleaded guilty to six counts of the superceding indictment on May 25, 1999. On June 2, 1999, the jury found Schwarz guilty of participating and conspiring with Volpe to participate in the sexual assault of Louima, and found Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder not guilty of the car assaults. The second trial of Schwarz, Bruder and Wiese began on February 7, 2000. Only Count Twelve of the superceding indictment, which charged the defendants with conspiring to obstruct justice, was at issue. The jury found all three guilty of Count Twelve on March 6, 2000. Schwarz’s Trial Testimony Schwarz gave his only sworn statement regarding the events of August 9, 1997 in testimony at the second trial. As noted, Schwarz said that during the incident outside Club Rendez-Vous, Loui-ma “struck me on the side of my head with his fist,” and that he, Schwarz, injured his left hand while trying to place Louima in handcuffs. Upon arrival at the precinct, Wiese “pulled Mr. Louima out of the car,” and then Schwarz and Wiese led Louima into the precinct together. As Schwarz searched Louima at the front desk, Louima’s pants “dropped down to about his hip area or so,” but Louima’s buttocks were never exposed. Schwarz said he “had some difficulty” filling out the pedigree card “because I injured my hand out in the street.” Schwarz said that when Louima was led away from the desk, “I was filling out the pedigree sheet,” and that he did not finish his paperwork until after Louima had left the desk. Asked who took Louima from the desk, Schwarz said “I think it was Tommy Wiese. I can’t say 100 percent, but I think it was him.” After completing the pedigree card and counting Louima’s money, Schwarz had a brief conversation with Sergeant Bellomo near the front desk regarding Schwarz’s shirt, which had been ripped during the arrest of Louima. Schwarz said he “was never in that bathroom” with Louima and Volpe and did not lead Louima to the back of the station-house. Instead, Schwarz said, he “left the precinct and went out to the [patrol] car” to search for weapons or contraband Loui-ma may have left behind. Despite his injured hand, Schwarz said he lifted the car seats during the search. Schwarz said he did not see anyone else when he went outside or during his search. Schwarz noted that police regulations require such a search every time officers transport