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NYPD Misconduct Lawsuits Cost Taxpayers Nearly $69 Million Last Year
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 31, 2020
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 31, 2020
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New York City taxpayers are on the hook for more than $68 million in pay-outs to victims of alleged NYPD misconduct last year — a nearly $30 million jump from the previous year.
Newly released data from the city shows that 1,383 civil lawsuits were filed against the NYPD in 2019, down from the 1,615 brought the year before. But last year's lawsuits cost taxpayers $68,688,423, representing a 76 percent increase from the $38,951,976 paid out in 2018.
The largest settlement of the year, $6,625,000, was awarded to Derrick Hamilton, who spent more than two decades falsely imprisoned — much of it in solitary — due to alleged evidence fabrication by disgraced detective Louis Scarcella.
Carlos Medina, the so-called "Bronx Rapist," who was arrested by NYPD officers and spent eight years in prison before he was exonerated in 2014, was awarded $3,250,000.
Criminal justice advocates note that even as New Yorkers are shelling out more for NYPD misconduct, their access to information about police wrongdoing has never been more constrained. As a result of the the department's controversial reinterpretation of section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law in 2016, New York is now one of just two states to specifically classify police disciplinary records.
"There’s a complete lack of transparency that should really trouble us," said Molly Griffard, who works with the Legal Aid Society's Cop Accountability Project. "There’s an epidemic of misconduct and the very taxpayers who pay these settlements don't have access to what’s in these officers' misconduct records and how they’re being disciplined."
Data compiled by the group has shown that some officers are permitted to remain on the job even after the city settles dozens of lawsuits against them, often totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to the city's data, New Yorkers have paid out more than $300 million in the last five years due to NYPD misconduct suits.
In fact, the total amount is likely much higher, as the city's figures exclude all cases filed before 2015, as well as notices of claim that are settled prior to litigation. Factoring in those claims, the city paid out a whopping $230 million for NYPD misconduct in 2018, according to the NYC Comptroller's Office. Those figures for last year have not yet been released.
A spokesperson for the NYPD did not respond to a request to a comment.
Tagged
nypd
police misconduct
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz 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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