(NEW YORK) MintPress — Illegal arrests, police brutality and cops withholding medication from inmates — justs some of the accusations against the NYPD in nearly three dozen lawsuits filed between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.
To make them go away, the city paid out $22.8 million in 35 settlements and judgments worth $100,000 or more.
The largest payout was $15 million to settle a class action suit accusing police of illegal arrests for loitering.
Others included $1.2 million to two Colombian brothers who spent a total of 17 years behind bars for armed robbery convictions that were eventually thrown out, and $150,000 to a thief who had his head smashed through the windshield of a car while he was in handcuffs.
The payments come amidst an increase in the charges of civil rights violations, according to the city comptroller’s office. Between July 1, 2010 and June 31, 2011, 2,241 civil rights claims were filed against the NYPD, up 23 percent from the 1,826 claims filed a year earlier.
Christopher Dunn, associate legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the large payouts should push the NYPD to reevaluate its tactics.
“These enormous settlements are a clear sign that police misconduct is a serious problem in New York City,” he claimed. “Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars year after year, the city should be working hard to identify unlawful NYPD practices and out-of-control officers and instituting reforms to prevent misconduct before it happens.”
Defending the department
The city’s Law Department said the settlements were not an admission of guilt but protected the city from costly judgments.
“Police officers cope with incredibly difficult situations on a daily basis,” said Celeste Koeleveld, the executive assistant corporation counsel for public safety.
“As we’ve often noted, the decision to settle a lawsuit is not an indication of wrongdoing by the police officer or officers involved. Rather, it is a complex business judgment based on, among other things, the inherent riskiness of litigation.
“We look at each case stringently and weigh obvious risk factors like potential jury awards and automatic attorney fees. Of course, we also aggressively litigate dozens of civil rights cases a year and often win at trial,” she added.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne has called many of the cases frivolous.
“There’s a cottage industry in suing police, among other city agencies, that keeps the New York plaintiffs’ bar in Armani,” he asserted.
“We like the Chicago model where plaintiffs are forced to go to trial with some of their more preposterous claims,” he said. “We understand risk assessment and economic calculations go into decisions to settle. However, there’s a price to reputation too. In Chicago, they’ve saved reputations and public funds.”
Complaints mounting
The payouts come as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, face a growing chorus of critics who maintain that the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program unfairly targets minorities.
Last year, the police stopped nearly 700,000 people on the street, 85 percent of whom were black or Hispanic.
“The stop-and-frisk policy and practice as formalized in the city of New York is reflective of a deeper attitudinal problem in policing approaches, particularly in minority neighborhoods,” said attorney James Meyerson, who specializes in police misconduct.
Meyerson represented 38-year-old Vernon Branch, who received a judgment offer of $324,000 from the city in June after accusing police of excessive force.
According to his lawsuit, Branch, who was in the military and did not have a criminal record, was assaulted and arrested on the street near his home in Harlem as he and some friends discussed their plans for a Memorial Day barbecue.
Two officers responding to a noise complaint in the area acted aggressively as they approached the group, alleged the suit. After asking for identification, the cops handcuffed one man and threw Branch’s younger brother to the ground, it continued.
When Branch protested, an officer grabbed his arm. Branch resisted, and the cop allegedly punched him in the face, used pepper spray and hit him with a baton. After the officers handcuffed Branch, they brought him to a patrol car. Branch claims an officer struck him several more times in the face and body as he sat in the backseat.
Meyerson, his lawyer, said that at the time of the attack, the NYPD was already monitoring one of the officers after three separate excessive-force complaints.
Although Branch was charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, a grand jury voted not to indict him for assault after a passerby testified that she witnessed police attack Branch without provocation, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue him for resisting arrest.
Branch suffered “emotional and psychological trauma” from the attack, according to the suit, and he tried to kill himself a few months later.
As for Napoleon and Carlos Cardenas, the Colombian brothers who spent years in prison for armed robbery, they received an additional $400,000 and $800,000 respectively from the state.
“It’s a terrible thing to spend eight years in prison for something you didn’t do,” said their lawyer.