New York AG sues NYPD and city over excessive violence in anti-racial protests

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department and the City of New York, alleging that authorities used excessive force during the summer rallies against races.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York calls for the NYPD to undertake systemic reforms through an independent monitor. It also asks the court to declare the police’s actions illegal.

The 69-page submission contains allegations of dozens of excessive violations of violence accompanied by graphic photographs of individuals who, according to them, were beaten and in some cases illegally detained by the police.

“There is no doubt that the NYPD had a pattern of excessive, cruel and illegal power against peaceful protesters,” James said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit.

“Over the past few months, the NYPD has repeatedly and blatantly violated the rights of New Yorkers, inflicting significant physical and psychological damage and leading to great distrust in law enforcement,” James said. “With today’s lawsuit ends this long-standing pattern of cruel and illegal violence. No one is above the law – not even the individuals who are enforced.”

The lawsuit comes months after thousands gathered in New York to protest police violence following the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville. Floyd and Taylor, both Blacks, were killed by police and become symbols of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has called for a civilian investigation into police misconduct after videos circulated showing violent confrontations between apparently peaceful protesters and law enforcers. The investigation eventually uncovered 30 incidents in which police allegedly used pepper spray illegally, and 75 in which they allegedly used unreasonable force.

‘When defendants, who started in May 2020, decided to send thousands of insufficiently trained officers to large-scale protests, challenging the police’s actions and authority, the results were predictable: mass arrests, excessive violence and other illegal attempts to to suppress the protest, ‘the lawsuit read.

“While many aggrieved protesters have sought financial relief to repair their injuries, this case is only seeking explanatory and instructive relief – relief that is essential to end the decades-long, illegal practices of NYPD in police protests,” it said. said.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement that he met with the attorney general on Wednesday, “and we have a common goal: to continue to drive major police reforms.”

“I can no longer agree that there are urgent reforms that must and will be made this year, including the major reforms of discipline announced with my promise by the Obama Foundation, all 30 recommendations from the DOI reports and the legal department, and more, ‘said de Blasio.

“The work is critical and is currently underway. A court process and the additional bureaucracy of a federal monitor will not speed up this work. There is no time to waste and we will continue to move forward,” he said. he added.

A controversial practice in which the lawsuit is zero is known as ‘kettle’, or to enchant protesters and not allow them to spread, sometimes for hours. According to the case, protesters subject to the practice were detained illegally.

It also accuses the police of regularly arresting essential workers for violating a curfew rule, despite being released from it.

According to the case, police in one case arrested a security guard, Zuleyka Morales, who was wearing a badge around her neck that identified her as an essential worker. According to the complaint, Morales decided to take up a protest on his way to work after noticing that the police were using significant force.

“As soon as she hits the record, Morales feels someone come after her and fall to the ground. “While on the ground, she saw an NYPD officer with three stripes on his sleeve, indicating the rank of sergeant, who was trying to physically restrain her,” the suit said.

According to the case, the officer and at least two others’ hit her head against the sidewalk and street when she tried to explain that she was an essential worker.

“While she was on the ground, at least one officer obstructed her breathing by kneeling on her back and neck, and she said, ‘I can not breathe. “Morales repeated it a few times and feared for her life,” the suit said.

Morales was tied up with rope and arrested. Hours later, she lost consciousness and was transported to a hospital and was diagnosed with hematoma of the head and bruises. According to the lawsuit, she was re-arrested and released the next morning with a criminal summons for violating the curfew rule.

Morales is one of more than a dozen individuals named in the lawsuit as victims of alleged excessive violence or illegal detention. The court says excessive violent crimes make up the majority of the 1,646 allegations of police misconduct reported between May 28 and June 20.

“Defendants knew or should have known that NYPD officials had a practice of using unconstitutional excessive force to control and disseminate protest actions, yet did not enforce its policy to end the practice,” the lawsuit reads. “After information and conviction, the accused did not discipline the vast majority of NYPD officers who used excessive force against the participants in the Protest.”

The submission comes as Democrats compare the aggressive police tactics used during the racial justice protests to the failed attempts to deter a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters last week from enchanting the Capitol. At least five people died in the riot, including a U.S. police officer in the Capitol.

“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday they would not have been there – they would not have been treated very differently from the crowd of thugs who stormed the Capitol,” the president said. elected Joe Biden in a speech last week after the riots in DC.