A landmark case of false arrest in New York City has recently resulted in a massive $600,000 verdict in favor of the victim, Jateik Reed. Reed, who was 19 at the time of his arrest in 2012, was stopped by several NYPD officers after they allegedly saw “bags of marijuana” in his hands. They confronted Reed which led to a physical altercation during which officers repeatedly struck and kicked the victim and pepper sprayed a friend who was recording the incident on a cell phone.
Prosecutors maintained that Reed had punched and head-butted one of the officers, instigating the entire confrontation-allegations backed up by reams of NYPD documentation.
However, during the course of his trial, surveillance camera video from multiple points of view clearly showed that not only were Reed’s hands empty at the time officers approached him but that he didn’t initiate the conflict.
Reed filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages for false arrest in New York, excessive force, and filing of false documentation by NYPD officers involved in his wrongful arrest. Faced with an overwhelming amount of evidence, a judge ruled that Reed was indeed an innocent victim in the case and ordered New York City to pay Reed and his family (some of whom were arrested after the altercation) a lump sum of over $600,000.
This is not the first massive settlement reached with the city in relation to charges of false arrest in New York. In fact, between 2009 and 2014 NYC paid out over $428 million to settle various civil lawsuits. This case is a bit different though because several of the individual officers involved in the case were ordered to pay a portion of that settlement out of their own pockets-making them financially liable for Reed’s injuries and the abuse of his civil rights.
If you’ve been injured by overly aggressive police officers or wrongly detained, contact an experienced New York City false arrest attorney at the Law Offices of Nussin S. Fogel. Call 800-734-9338 or 212-385-1122 today.