New York legal professional normal sues NYPD to put in monitor, alleges years of civil rights abuses
New York attorney general Letitia James has sued the city of New York and its mayor and police superintendent for setting up a police agency monitor that has alleged civil rights violations, including by officers during protests against the death of George Floyd.
The “landmark lawsuit” filed in the southern borough of New York names Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea and Section Head Terence Monahan as defendants and outlines years of excessive violence and false arrests, most recently during the racial justice protests last year after the death of Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, James said.
“As the demonstrations continued, the very thing that was being protested – aggressive law enforcement measures – was shown publicly,” James said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
James was hired by Governor Andrew Cuomo to investigate the police’s handling of protests sparked by Floyd’s death. James said Thursday that her office’s civil investigation found “a tremendous abuse of police power, rampant excessive use of force and leadership incapable and unwilling to stop it.”
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that between May 28, 2020 and December 11, 2020, officials of various ranks “repeatedly used batons, punches, pepper spray and other physical violence against demonstrators without justification”.
According to James, the officers also used bicycles and a crowd control tactic known as “kettling” or “containment”. Both caused significant damage.
James said law enforcement officials, medics and other key workers were among those detained and arrested for no likely reason. These arrests, she said, “are a direct violation of de Blasio’s executive order”.
De Blasio said in a statement on Thursday that he met with James on Wednesday and “we have a common goal: to press ahead with other major police reforms.”
“I could no longer agree that there are urgent reforms that need and will be implemented this year, including the major disciplinary reforms announced with my pledge to the Obama Foundation, all 30 recommendations from the DOI and Legal Department reports and more, “said the statement. “This work is critical and is ongoing.”
“Legal proceedings and the additional bureaucracy of a federal monitor will not speed up this work,” the statement said. “There is no time to lose and we will keep moving forward.”
The police did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Protesters – many of whom were never charged with a crime and were merely exercising their First Amendment rights – suffered concussions, fractures, cuts, bruises and other physical injuries,” the lawsuit said.
During the press conference, several people spoke virtually about the abuse they had allegedly witnessed by officials.
“The NYPD and its senior leaders did not address this longstanding pattern of abuse by failing to properly train, supervise and discipline officials to prevent wrongdoing, even though they knew and publicly admitted that it violated the rights of New Yorkers,” said James.
“Nobody is above the law – not even the people in charge of enforcement,” James said Thursday.
It is time, she said, for significant changes.
“Therefore, we are seeking systematic reforms of the NYPD and the installation of a monitor to monitor the NYPD’s police tactics in future protests and to ensure that they comply with the law,” said James. “With today’s lawsuit, this longstanding pattern of brutal and illegal violence ends.”
James said that she does not think that every officer is problematic, but that the city has a “systemic problem” that needs to be addressed.
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