14940: Hermantin: AP-Abner Louima Foundation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

2/25/03
Photo: Abner Louima, 36, talking about his new life as a philanthropist
during an interview at the Hotel Montana in Petion-ville, Haiti, on Tuesday,
Feb. 18, 2003.The scars on Abner Louima's belly remind him of the surgeries
he needed after New York police held him down on a bathroom floor and
sodomized him with a broken broomstick. But more than five years after the
assault that made him a symbol of police brutality and brought him a $5.8
million settlement, Louima is turning back toward his native Haiti with a
conviction that through philanthropy he can help his homeland. "Maybe God
saved my life for a reason," said Louima who is setting up the Abner Louima
Foundation which will have community centers in Haiti, New York and Florida.
(AP Photo/Daniel Morel)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Five years after the assault by New York police
that brought him a record $8.7 million settlement, Abner Louima is turning
his attention to his native Haiti.

The man whose case came to symbolize police brutality in the United States
says he's convinced he can make a difference in his impoverished homeland.

"Maybe God saved my life for a reason," Louima said in a rare interview
during a visit last week. "I believe in doing the right thing."

Louima, who now lives in Florida, is setting up a nonprofit group, the Abner
Louima Foundation, and hopes to raise money to build a community center and
much-needed hospital in Haiti.

He says he plans to use his own money and donations to open community
centers in Haiti, New York and Florida for Haitians and others seeking
legal, financial or other aid.

In the hills that fringe Port-au-Prince, Louima also is paying school
tuition for 14 poor children in Thomassin, a small community where he grew
up.

"He's helping the kids a lot. Without this, they couldn't go to school,"
said Luckner Clairmont, a 24-year-old teacher at the concrete schoolhouse
set amid fields where families eke out a living growing beans and bananas.

Few houses in the neighborhood have phones, blackouts are common and regular
work is rare.

Many parents can't afford the tuition of $5.20 a month. "At least with
(Louima's) money we're able to pay some of the teachers," Clairmont said.

Nearby, chickens scratch in a yard where Louima spent his early years.
Nowadays he lives in the Miami area, but when he visits he brings clothing,
jewelry and cash to his grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins.

"Of course he's changed a bit, but he seems to be doing good," said his
grandfather, 90-year-old Sevola Louima, who wears a pullover with a U.S.
flag on it and gushes that he found New York "beautiful" when his grandson
took him last year.

Louima left the countryside when he was 14 to attend school in
Port-au-Prince. He followed his parents to New York City in 1990 and worked
as a security guard and car salesman.

His life changed forever on Aug. 9, 1997, when he was sodomized with a
broomstick in a police precinct restroom after being arrested in a brawl
outside a Brooklyn nightclub. Louima suffered severe internal injuries.

One officer is serving 30 years for the attack, and another is serving a
five-year term for perjury.

Louima sued and in 2001 the city and police union agreed to pay $8.7
million, the largest settlement ever in a police brutality case in New York.
After legal fees, Louima walked away with about $5.8 million.

Now the 36-year-old wears a gold watch and owns homes in suburban Miami and
Port-au-Prince, plus investment properties in Florida.

Louima moved to Florida with his wife and children in 2001. His daughter is
now 12 and his sons are 6 and 3.

"The publicity in New York wasn't really affecting me directly, but on the
other hand it was affecting my children ... so I chose to leave," he said.
"I can go to someplace in Miami and no one knows who I am."

"I try right now to lead a normal life, which I missed for the past five
years," said Louima, who enjoys watching his kids play basketball and
soccer.

In Haiti, Louima has met with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former
priest whom Louima happens to know from his school years. Louima wouldn't
say what they discussed, saying it had to do with "personal things."

He said he takes no side in Haiti's politics but hopes its leaders will find
ways to improve life for the country's poor. Hunger is widespread, and a
vast majority live on $1 a day or less.

By giving back to Haiti, Louima said he aims to set an example.

"I always have hope," he said. "And something must be done."







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