New York Agrees To Pay Out Millions Because The NYPD Got Caught Brutalizing People. Again.

// 2020 was a wild time. COVID was a thing, the police were handing out public executions to people over cigarettes, and people were using their newfound free time to exercise their fundamental rights. The NYPD also used that time to exercise — I’ve been told by reliable sources that pushing unarmed people in between hitting them with batons is great cardio. Some, and this bears repeating — only some, of the police exercise has been caught on video. One particular NYPD workout spree is set to cost the city quite the gym fee.

New York City has agreed to pay millions of dollars to demonstrators who sued the police department, saying they had been mistreated during a June 2020 racial justice protest that followed the killing of George Floyd.

The proposed settlement would award $21,500 to each of the more than 300 people arrested in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the city’s Bronx borough if it is approved by a federal judge.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-top-300x250" ); });

Mistreated is an understatement. I remember one time in my youth I mistreated a waiter by only paying 15% for relatively good service. Don’t worry, with time I learned the mistake of my ways. You don’t agree to pay out ~$7M over “mistreatments.” If your memory is a little foggy around what passed for good policing in New York during 2020, here is a light refresher.

Sponsored Understanding Big Law: A Must-Read Guide To One Of The Most Challenging Workplaces In The World Is Now Available From Elizabeth M. Bennett

NYPD Union boss Mike O’Meara says ‘stop treating us like animals’ – here’s an idea…stop acting like animals.pic.twitter.com/FEeczn7mfS

— LiA (@LibsInAmerica) June 9, 2020

You would think that herding and beating several hundred people who were out protesting against a man being killed in broad daylight, and then having the nerve to complain that people aren’t respecting you enough was a ham-fisted Batman vigilante origin story, not a plan orchestrated by people whose literal only job is to protect and serve.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-middle-300x250" ); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-storycontent-440x100" ); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-in-story-youtube-1x1" ); });

According to a class action lawsuit filed later in 2020, New York police trapped hundreds of peaceful protesters in a strategy known as “kettling” before an 8 p.m. curfew took effect and then initiated mass arrests, using batons and pepper spray on some of the demonstrators.

“In the course of this litigation, we learned that this operation was preplanned and coordinated at the highest levels of the NYPD,” Ali Frick, one of the lawyers who brought the case, said in an interview. She said the settlement appears to be the largest ever on a per-person basis for any class action suit related to a mass arrest.

It couldn’t have been that hard to discover that the operation was preplanned and coordinated at the highest levels of the NYPD — there’s been a 60+ video compilation of NYPD officers assaulting unarmed protesters up for over two years now.

Sponsored Sponsored The Global Legal News You Need, When You Need It News and analysis from this company could be a game-changer for legal professionals working globally. From Ethan Beberness Sponsored Stuck Drafting A Tough Brief? This Tool Can Help. LexisNexis Brief Analysis produces powerful, near-instant legal argumentation insights using the power of AI. From Ethan Beberness Sponsored Understanding Big Law: A Must-Read Guide To One Of The Most Challenging Workplaces In The World Is Now Available From Elizabeth M. Bennett Sponsored What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life? We want to know your views on law firm policies and culture. From Above The Law

New York City has agreed to pay $21,500 to each of hundreds of demonstrators who were penned in by NYPD officers in the Bronx during the George Floyd protests in 2020 https://t.co/Y8vWUBZI6G https://t.co/EjjhpY2P33

— Allison McCann (@atmccann) March 1, 2023

Rule of thumb people: one person protesting getting detained and beaten for acting on a First Amendment right? Horrible. That happens to over 300 people at once? Somebody greenlit that. Wishing that the payout will be approved by a federal judge, I hope that it will bring a bit of peace to the protestors who had their rights violated.

New York To Pay Millions To Protesters Arrested At George Floyd Demonstration [Reuters]

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-bottom-300x250" ); });

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent. 

Sponsored Sponsored What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life? We want to know your views on law firm policies and culture. From Above The Law Sponsored Legal Knowledge Management To Drive Dealmaking Here’s how Lexis Search Advantage | Transactional unites internal and external research to create better deals faster. From Ethan Beberness Topics

Courts, George Floyd, Kettling, NYPD, Police Brutality