The lawsuit, which seeks to install a monitor to oversee police tactics at future protests, alleges that NYPD officers used a litany of illegal tactics including excessive force and unlawful arrests.
The New York state attorney general on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the NYPD, alleging repeated “illegal and harmful conduct” during racial justice protests this summer and in years prior. The lawsuit, which seeks to install a monitor to oversee police tactics at future protests, alleges that NYPD officers used a litany of illegal tactics including excessive force and unlawful arrests. The lawsuit claims that officers frequently used excessive physical force against protesters, often with pepper spray, batons and bicycles. Attorney General Letitia James’s office said police hit protesters with blunt instruments at least 50 times, unlawfully deployed pepper spray in at least 30 instances, and used unreasonable force while pushing or striking protesters at least 75 times. “As a result of these actions, protesters experienced significant physical harm, including broken bones, gashes requiring stitches and staples, concussions, and other harm, as well as extensive psychological harm,” the office said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. The lawsuit also accuses the NYPD of unlawfully detaining hundreds of people, including protesters, legal observers and medics. As an example, the suit alleges that despite Mayor Bill de Blasio exempting legal observers and medics from nightly 8 p.m. curfews,12 legal observers and six medics were arrested at a June 4 protest in the Bronx.
