NYPD “Lucky Bag” Sting Nabs Class Action Lawsuit

NYPD “Lucky Bag” Sting Nabs Class Action Lawsuit

By Sarah Pierce

The NYPD has been hit with another class action lawsuit from citizens accusing the department of illegal arrest procedures.

The department has already been sued for unlawful checkpoints and its controversial “stop and frisk” program. Now the NYPD is facing legal action over its “Lucky Bag” sting operation, which tempts New Yorkers into grabbing a bag full of money or valuables.

The lead plaintiff in the NYPD “Lucky Bag” class action lawsuit is Spiridon Argyros, who says he was arrested last spring after picking up a backpack that had a wallet protruding from the pocket. Argyros says he took the wallet and placed it in a plastic bag without opening it with the intention of turning it in — but never got a chance to. He was arrested seconds later and booked. The charges were later dismissed, but that’s not good enough for Argyros, who calls the sting operation a “trap” that treats good Samaritans like criminals.

The crux of his class action lawsuit will likely lie in the fact that the law gives people 10 days to return lost money or property valued at more than $10 to its owners or the police department. Operation Lucky Bag, as its known, has been extremely successful at nabbing people – but how many of these people are crooks and how many are simply good Samaritans?

Despite its “success,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Andrew Schaffer recently advised personnel that the sting operation may be illegal. In an internal memo sent five months ago, Schaffer said, “A person picking up property that they find cannot be charged with larceny simply because they fail to return the property to a police officer who is located near the site at the time that the property was found.”

Schaffer noted that for the operation to be conducted legally, cops must establish the person who found the item intended to steal it.

Argyros filed the class action lawsuit on Monday, which could include hundreds of other people caught by the Lucky Bag sting and wrongfully arrested. He is seeking an injunction to stop the operation.

“This is a civil rights class action that challenges the constitutionality of a widespread and ongoing New York City Police Department (‘NYPD’) operation known as ‘Operation Lucky Bag,’ which entraps its victims, presumes their guilt and results in their unlawful arrest and detention,” the class action lawsuit states.

Updated May 23rd, 2013

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