After a federal judge dismissed most of their bid for a preliminary injunction blocking the release of records, NYPD and fire unions are appealing.
After the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer, New York City residents joined the a nationwide movement of organized protests against systemic racism and police brutality. (Courthouse News photo / Josh Russell)
MANHATTAN (CN) Former New York City Police Department officers and firefighters who say Mayor Bill de Blasio put them in harm’s way by unsealing discipline records advanced their claims to the Second Circuit on Tuesday.
In June of last year, the state repealed a rule that limited public access, except by court order, to the personnel performance records of police officers, firefighters and correction officers.
They definitely charged multiple times, said Egypt Staley, 22, of Washington Heights.
He told the New York Daily News: Some people were just being grabbed off the sidewalk. Some people were not even facing them. They surrounded us. People were trying to leave. Some people were like, How can I even leave?
Helen Guzman, 30, told the paper: They were really violent. Cops were pushing, shoving folks, pummeling people, tackling them.
The area was all quiet by around 10pm, according to social media.
NYPD attacking protesters at City Hall Park pic.twitter.com/BHtH76kyde Isabelle Leyva (@isabelle leyva) January 19, 2021
NEW YORK
New York’s attorney general sued the New York Police Department on Thursday, calling the rough treatment of protesters against racial injustice last spring part of a long-standing pattern of abuse that stemmed from inadequate training, supervision and discipline.
Atty. Gen. Letitia James’ lawsuit includes dozens of examples of alleged misconduct during the demonstrations after George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, including using pepper spray and batons on protesters, trapping demonstrators with a technique called kettling, and arresting medics and legal observers.
“We found a pattern of deeply concerning and unlawful practices that the NYPD utilized in response to these largely peaceful protests,” James said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
arrow Scenes from the June 4, 2020 demonstration in the Bronx C.S. Muncy / Gothamist
The New York City Police Department could be the first in the country to be simultaneously overseen by two separate federal court monitors if state Attorney General Letitia James is successful in her lawsuit over how the agency handles large protests.
But experts warn that won’t be a panacea for everything critics say is wrong with the 36,000-officer force, which James argues is guilty of widespread brutality and violating the rights of protesters during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in summer 2020.
“I certainly cannot think of a single instance in which a police department has had more than one federal monitor at the same time,” said Corey Stoughton, attorney-in-charge of the Law Reform Practice at the Legal Aid Society. “I think it s fair to say that that would be very unusual and possibly unprecedented.”