New york post Jan 21st 2003

01/21/2003/NYPOST
ARRESTED SLAY PAL RIPS COPS
By Rita Delfiner
Cops put a Manhattan man they arrested - and then released - through "hours of abusive interrogation" in connection with the Lower East Side slaying of a college buddy, his lawyer claimed yesterday.
Forrest Bloede, 24, "was subjected to hours of abusive interrogation and wrongfully arrested just hours after watching his friend get shot and surviving an armed mugging himself," said the lawyer, Glenn Wolther.
The lawyer declined to comment on a possible lawsuit against the NYPD.
The victim, Burke O'Brien, a 25-year-old banker, was killed Jan. 12 as he and Bloede returned to Bloede's Orchard Street apartment building.
Bloede told police that Burke was shot in the chest once after he resisted two muggers who had taken $12 from his pal.
The next day cops arrested Bloede and charged him with second-degree murder with the knowledge of the Manhattan district attorney's office - but hours later prosecutors declined to file charges against him and he was freed.
"The trauma Forrest suffered at the hands of the murderer is compounded by the treatment by the DA's office and the police," Wolther said yesterday. "His name must be completely cleared."

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