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Two civil rights organizations are suing New York City Mayor Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, along with other NYPD officers, on behalf of protesters who say they were injured by police while protesting police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in New York, said protesters — who took to city streets by the hundreds and thousands this spring and summer to support the Black Lives Matter movement and demand police reform — “repeatedly were met with the very pattern of police violence they marched to end.”
The complaint was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation and The Legal Aid Society on behalf of 11 defendants, eight of whom are people of color, and all of whom are New York City residents. The complaint alleges that the 11 plaintiffs were falsely arrested and/or subjected to excessive force by NYPD officers while participating at various protests between late May and late June.
The plaintiffs are: Jarrett Payne, Andie Mali, Camila Gini, Vidal Guzman, Vivian Matthew King-Yarde, Charlie Monlouis-Anderle, Jaime Fried, Micaela Martinez, Julian Phillips, Nicolas Mulder and Colleen McCormack-Maitland.
In addition to the mayor and police commissioner, defendants include Chief of Department Terence Monahan, the City of New York, and 34 unnamed NYPD officers, as well as four officers who were identified only by their surnames: Officers Rivera and Husbands, and Sgts. Manning and Caraballo.
According to the complaint, NYPD officers used excessive force including “unjustifiable” fist and baton strikes, chemical pepper spray attacks, and other acts of physical violence against protesters. Other tactics included trapping protesters with a technique called “kettling” and detaining them for hours. One plaintiff suffered nerve damage and an arm fracture as a result of being tackled, beaten by at least three officers, pinned to the ground, and forcefully lifted up while in handcuffs, the lawsuit states.
The complaint alleges that the mayor and police leadership “condoned and even promoted that violence” rather than helping to curtail it.
During many encounters between protesters and New York City police officers — including instances in which plaintiffs were involved — officers allegedly covered their badge numbers, making it difficult to identify individuals who used excessive force against protesters.
Furthermore, none of the officers involved in the attacks or subsequent arrests wore face masks, potentially exposing protesters to the deadly coronavirus, the complaint states.
In addition to physical injuries including bruises and cuts, plaintiffs suffered emotional trauma as a result of their interactions with police, the complaint states. One plaintiff was repeatedly and intentionally misgendered by officers in a humiliating manner as they were being detained, according to the complaint.
The complaint notes “a long history of misconduct — including, but not limited to, mass false arrests, excessive force, and excessive detention — associated with the NYPD’s development and implementation of policies and practices concerning arrests and crowd control arising out of protests. That history of misconduct is reflected in the NYPD’s conduct towards Plaintiffs and other demonstrators during the protests described herein.”
The civil rights organizations are seeking monetary damages for the plaintiffs as well as reforms like training officers to respect the rights of protesters and swift discipline for officers who used excessive force, NBC 4 New York reported. They are also asking the court to declare that the defendants’ actions were unconstitutional.
“It’s imperative that there be a whole retraining of the police department that they have to respect the right to protest, and that their response to protest cannot be violence, cannot be abusive, and that they need to protect everybody’s rights,” New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman said, NBC reported.
Mayor Bill de Blasio declined comment on the lawsuit’s specific complaints, but said there have been fundamental changes in police strategies in recent years aimed at avoiding confrontations, according to publication.
“From what I’ve heard of the lawsuit’s allegation, it doesn’t sound right at all to me,” de Blasio said at a daily briefing. “There’s been a conscious effort for seven years now to change the relationship between the NYPD and communities.”
Were you involved in Black Lives Matter protests this year, in NYC or elsewhere? Did you encounter excessive force from law enforcement? Please tell us about it the comments below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Molly K. Biklen, Jessica Perry, Daniel R. Lambright, Lisa Laplace and Christopher T. Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union; and Corey Stoughton and Jennvine Wong of The Legal Aid Society.
The NYPD Aggressive Tactics Toward Protesters Lawsuit is Jarrett Payne, et al. v. Mayor Bill de Blasio, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-08924, in the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York.
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