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Grandmother Dragged Out Of Apartment Naked By Cops Sues NYPD
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 10, 2015
Modified Mar 26, 2018
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 10, 2015
Modified Mar 26, 2018
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Last summer, an asthmatic grandmother who had been accused of assaulting one of her children was dragged out of her Brooklyn apartment by cops while naked. Denise Stewart and her family are now suing the NYPD over the altercation: "What they did to her is an affront to all women, especially women of color," her lawyer Amy Rameau told the News.
On July 13th, 2014, cops burst into Stewart's Brownsville apartment. Stewart, 49, was in a towel and underwear when cops dragged her out of the apartment. In a video of the incident you can see below, you can hear the woman calling for oxygen (amidst a LOT of screaming) as she stood naked in her hallway for over two minutes, surrounded by around a dozen (mostly male) cops.
Stewart, who fainted at one point during the incident, was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon. Three of her other family members, including a 12-year-old, were also arrested in the melee.
The circumstances around the arrest are disputed by Stewart and her attorney: cops claimed they were called to the building to investigate a 911 call about someone having thrown a bottle out a window of the building, when they came upon a domestic disturbance incident involving Stewart's 12-year-old daughter.
Rameau previously stated that the disturbance call came from a different apartment on an upper floor, and cops went to the wrong apartment. She added that the city's Administration for Children's Services was called to investigate but didn't find any evidence of neglect, nor injuries to the 12-year-old as cops claimed.
"They made up a story that [Denise] pulled off her clothes and said, 'I'll fight you all,'" Rameau added. "She suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes, and she's incapable of fighting them."
Tagged
asthma
brooklyn
cops
denise stewart
lawsuit
naked
nypd
police
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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