Abraham Jewett  |  September 8, 2021

Category: Legal News

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NYPD lawsuit
(Photo Credit: BrandonKleinPhoto/Shutterstock)

NYPD Lawsuit Overview: 

  • Who: A protester lodged a lawsuit against The City of New York and its police department (NYPD). 
  • Why: The plaintiff claims NYPD officers used excessive force and injured his hand and wrist while arresting him during a Black Lives Matter last year. 
  • Where: The lawsuit was filed in New York federal court. 

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) violated the constitutional rights of protestors following the murder of George Floyd, a new lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Adam Azbel-Bedell claims in his lawsuit filed Thursday that NYPD officers engaged in conduct such as beating protestors, throwing them to the ground, and using pepper spray indiscriminately. 

Azbel-Bedell lodged the lawsuit against New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, and three unidentified officers of the NYPD. 

NYPD Lawsuit Details Policies, History of Police Brutality

Azbell-Bedell claims he was participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when multiple NYPD officers unlawfully assaulted, seized, battered, and arrested him. 

Plaintiff says he was attempting to leave the area on his bicycle when an NYPD officer charged at him, tackled him to the ground, and placed him in “extremely tight” plastic handcuffs. 

Despite making it clear the handcuffs were hurting his wrists, officer’s took no steps to alleviate the tightness, even as his hands began to swell up and turn purple, according to the NYPD lawsuit. 

Azbell-Bedell says he sustained a torn ligament in his thumb and nerve damage from the handcuffs, which were finally removed after about an hour. 

The NYPD’s actions against protestors, including the plaintiff, were part of policies set out by the NYPD that include the use of excessive force, false arrests, and unreasonable detention, says Azbell-Bedell.  

Many NYPD officers also failed to wear protective face masks — as required by an order from then-Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — and removed some protestors masks while placing them under arrest, according to the NYPD lawsuit. 

Azbell-Bedell alleges the NYPD and the City of New York are guilty of unlawful seizure, false arrest, excessive force, malicious prosecution, deliberate indifference to a serious medical condition, and are in violation of the First Amendment, due process, Equal Protection and Selective Enforcement, Deprivation of Fair Trial Rights, and New York State Law

Plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and damages. 

A similar class action lawsuit was filed in June against NYPD officers by two New York lawmakers who claim they were surrounded and beaten with officers’ bikes during a 2020 racial injustice march

Do you believe you were unlawfully detained or brutalized by police during a Black Lives Matter or similar civil rights protest? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Elena L. Cohen, J. Remy Green, and Jessica Massimi of Cohen&Green P.L.L.C.

The NYPD Lawsuit is Azbel-Bedell v. The City of New York, Case No. 1:21-cv-04961, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.


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One thought on NYPD Battered, Assaulted Black Lives Matter Protestors, Says Lawsuit

  1. Denise Christianson says:

    This attack on police disgusts me!! They were rioting, burning businesses, seriously they should be in jail not filling lawsuits against police trying to protect the city and businesses!!!

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