NYPD lawsuits filed in Queens cost the city $3.42 million last year

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TWO NYPD OFFICERS ON PATROL. THE CIVILIAN COMPLAINT REVIEW BOARD EDUCATED A GROUP OF FAR ROCKAWAY TEENS ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS IN ENCOUNTERS WITH THEIR POLICE WEDNESDAY MORNING. PHOTO BY TORBA K. HOPPER.

TWO NYPD OFFICERS ON PATROL. THE CIVILIAN COMPLAINT REVIEW BOARD EDUCATED A GROUP OF FAR ROCKAWAY TEENS ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS IN ENCOUNTERS WITH THEIR POLICE WEDNESDAY MORNING. PHOTO BY TORBA K. HOPPER.

By David Brand

Lawsuits against the NYPD filed in Queens courts cost city taxpayers more than $3.42 million last year, according to information published Friday by the city.

The city publishes the annual lawsuit and disposition information each year, with data available in five year windows. The sortable spreadsheets allow users to separate the information by litigation date, disposition date, outcome and jurisdiction.

The city settled lawsuits naming 82 defendants in Queens Supreme and Civil Court last year for a total of $3,422,500. Another 46 resulted in zero dispositions or administrative closings. No case went to trial in Queens last year.

The largest settlement — $1,495,000 — went to Karim Baker, a FedEx driver who accidentally gave directions to the man who murdered police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in Bedford Stuyvesant in 2014. Baker sued the NYPD after alleging that officers had continued to stop and harass him following the murders. He also said he was beaten.

Lawsuits naming another 163 defendants were filed against the NYPD in Queens in 2019, according to the municipal data. Only three have so far resulted in a disposition, including one $25,000 settlement.

Overall, the city paid out $69 million in lawsuits against the NYPD last year, roughly $30 million more than in 2018, the Daily News reported.

“An epidemic of misconduct within the New York City Police Department continues to cost New York City taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year,” said Corey Stoughton, the attorney leading the Special Litigation Unit of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

The city Law Department and the NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.

See the lawsuits:

Data via the New York City Law Department

Correction: This story has been updated with accurate financial information. A previous version of this story included a higher total payment amount based on the duplication of a handful of lawsuits that name various defendants.