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NYPD unconstitutionally seizes vehicles to extract info from car owners, lawsuits say
By
Ben Feuerherd
Published Sep 11, 2025
Modified Sep 11, 2025
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Courtesy, Reno Breton
By
Ben Feuerherd
Published Sep 11, 2025
Modified Sep 11, 2025
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Reno Breton was making some extra money renting cars to New York City drivers when one of his customers got into a scrape with the NYPD.
When police tried to pull the driver over for speeding in the Bronx in November 2022, the driver sped away in Breton’s 2021 Toyota Supra. With police still looking for him, the driver parked the car on the side of a road and ran off, according to legal filings.
Next, NYPD officers seized the car and did something that Breton’s lawyer now says was illegal. When Breton showed up to the 43rd Precinct to recover the vehicle, an officer at the precinct told him wouldn’t be able to unless he “told [his] boy to turn himself in,” according to the lawsuit.
“I’m sure they do this because they squeeze people and people give them information,” said Breton’s lawyer, Andrew Campanelli.
Breton is one of several people who have accused the department of illegally seizing their vehicles, and then using the car to try to extract information for a criminal case, according to Campanelli and two lawsuits reviewed by Gothamist.
In Breton’s case, the city did not admit wrongdoing, but settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay him $54,000 after keeping his Toyota Supra for more than a year, according to legal filings. The city settled at least one other lawsuit brought by a woman who said her car was improperly seized, but details of that agreement were not made public.
The lawsuits allege the seizures violate constitutional due process rights and protections against unreasonable seizures.
An NYPD spokesperson said in an email that the department follows city rules and case law around motor vehicle seizure and retention. The department takes due process seriously and reviews internal policies to ensure compliance, the email said. The city's Law Department did not respond to requests for comment.
$54K Settlement
Breton said an officer told him the man who rented his car was racing on Bruckner Boulevard the night police seized the Supra. Breton has not been accused of a crime.
Breton, who is from the Bronx but now lives out of state, said he didn’t know the driver’s name. He said he worked with a friend to rent cars in the city, and his friend was the one who set up the rental.
“I had no idea at the time who was actually driving the vehicle,” Breton told Gothamist.
Regardless of whether he knew the driver’s identity, it was unconstitutional for police to hold the car in an attempt to extort information from him, the lawsuit alleges.
“The sole reason they held the car was to extract information,” said Campanelli, who represents a number of people who say their cars were illegally seized by the city and other nearby police departments.
Police held the car for more than a year, until Campanelli and Breton settled the lawsuit, according to court filings. Under the terms of the settlement, the city did not admit they violated any of Breton’s rights, but agreed to return the car and pay the settlement, court filings state.
Car owner asked to ID a photo
In another lawsuit, Campanelli alleges a Brooklyn woman named Leniece Bruney lent her Nissan Rogue in December 2023 to a friend who later returned it and parked it outside of her apartment.
Soon after, Bruney was heading to work when she was approached by two police officers who were standing by her car, Campanelli said.
The officers told her they were going to seize the car because it was used in a hit-and-run crash, according to the lawsuit. They told her she would not be able to recover the Nissan unless she told them who was driving the car at the time of the crash, the suit states.
One of the officers showed her a photo of a man they thought was involved in the crash and asked her to identify him, Campanelli said. She refused and police seized the car, according to the lawsuit.
“These police officers and police precincts think they can just seize a car, no warrant, no exception to the warrant requirement,” Campanelli said. “And the worst part is, then they think they can hold it as long as they want.”
Bruney’s lawsuit has not been resolved and the city has not yet filed an answer to her complaint, according to court records.
This story has been updated to include comment from an NYPD spokesperson.
Tagged
bronx
new york city
nypd
public safety
transportation
Ben Feuerherd
Ben Feuerherd covers public safety and policing for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered federal courts for The New York Post and The Messenger. His work has also appeared in POLITICO, the Daily Beast and NBC New York. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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