Black lawmakers sue NYPD for beating, pepper-spraying them during BLM protest The suit calls for police tactics like “kettling” to be made illegal. Share this story Getty Two Black New York legislators say they were beaten with bicycles and pepper-sprayed by cops during a Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn last summer. Now, the lawmakers — State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblywoman Diana Richardson — have filed a federal lawsuit against the city. The suit from Myrie and Richardson alleges that Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea and six other officers violated their right to free speech, assaulted them and illegally detained Myrie.