New York state sued the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday, claiming officers used excessive force and unjustified arrests to quell recent protests against racial injustice, state Attorney General Letitia James announced in a press release on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) New York state sued the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday, claiming officers used excessive force and unjustified arrests to quell recent protests against racial injustice, state Attorney General Letitia James announced in a press release on Thursday.
"The lawsuit specifically charges the NYPD, the City of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, and NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan with failing to address this longstanding pattern of abuse by not properly training, supervising, and disciplining officers to prevent misconduct, despite knowledge and public admission that it violated the rights of New Yorkers," the release said.
The lawsuit cites dozens of examples of police brutality and other misconduct dating back to May 2020 that injured peaceful protesters, the release said.
Police tactics included "indiscriminate, unjustified, and repeated use of batons, pepper spray, bicycles, and a crowd-control tactic known as 'kettling.' Ketting describes a tactic of corralling protesters without allowing them to disperse, and thereafter making mass arrests without probable cause, the release added.
An investigation by James' office found that police struck protesters with blunt instruments at least 50 times, unlawfully deployed pepper spray in at least 30 incidents and used unreasonable force at least 75 times. The incidents cited followed a June 1 emergency declaration by de Blasio, according to the release.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief including installation of an independent observer to monitor police behavior.
Nationwide protests gripped US cities through the summer of 2020 in response to multiple incidents, in which unarmed African-American suspects died while in police custody.
