Civil rights groups sue NYPD for brutality during George Floyd protests
/
Plaintiff Jarrett Payne of Rockaway Beach said he was beaten by officers with batons while peacefully protesting police violence on June 2. Photo courtesy of Legal Aid
By David Brand
Jarrett Payne says he was marching peacefully through Manhattan on June 2, holding a sign that read “The system is the problem” during a nightly protest following the police killing of George Floyd.
From his spot at the back of the march, Payne, 34, watched as police officers followed the group, seeming to accommodate the protesters even after an 8 p.m curfew took effect, he said. But without warning an officer approached him; when he backed up, another cop “blindsided” him, slamming him against a bench, busting his face and leaving his sign splattered with blood, he said.
“I’m tackled, thrown to the floor, bounced from a bench,” he said. “I look at my mask, it’s covered with blood, my protest sign is covered with blood. I realized it must be mine.”
A protester was arrested on Fifth Avenue by NYPD officers during a march on June 4.Photo by John Minchillo/AP
More than four months later, Payne, a Rockaway Beach resident, is suing the NYPD, the city and more than 30 individual officers. He is the lead plaintiff in a police brutality lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan federal court by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society.
The lawsuit accuses cops of roughing up demonstrators who called for an end to police violence following Floyd’s death. The complaint also charged city leaders with enabling police misconduct like kettling, beating and pepper-spraying demonstrators. A citywide curfew instituted by Mayor Bill de Blasio gave cops “pretext for perpetrating mass violence on and arresting protesters,” the complaint states.
“Protesters repeatedly were met with the very pattern of police violence they marched to end,” the lawsuit continues. “Over and again, at protests throughout the City in May and June, NYPD officers descended on protesters with unjustifiable fist and baton strikes, chemical pepper spray attacks, and other acts of physical violence.”
Payne was charged with three minor offenses, all of which were dropped by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. He still has lingering pain in his wrist and back, where officers struck him and sat on him, he said.
The lawsuit details Payne’s account of the violence. At least three officers “struck him repeatedly with batons, yelling at him to put his arms underneath him, but pinning him down so that he could not comply,” the lawsuit states.
“No officer had given any instruction to Payne prior to attacking him, and Payne did not resist the officers in any way,” the suit continues.
In that moment, Payne said he saw the similarities between himself and Floyd, who died under the knee of a Minneapolis cop while two other officers pinned him to the ground.
“The only difference is they weren’t sitting on my neck,” he told the Eagle. “At the end of the day, that’s more reason why I have to be out there.”
Following the unrest in New York City, Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate whether NYPD officers used excessive force to suppress unrest and enforce the curfew. In a July preliminary report, James said her office had received more than 1,300 complaints from protesters, mostly accusing NYPD officers of using excessive force.
At the time, top NYPD officials and Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the police for how they handled the demonstrations and highlighted examples of looting that occurred amid the demonstrations.
A spokesperson for the New York City Law Department defended de Blasio’s commitment to police reform.
“The Mayor has a long track record of police reform and strengthening the bonds between law enforcement and the community,” said spokesperson Kimberly Joyce. “We will review the allegations in the complaint and respond in court.
An NYPD spokesperson said the department will review the review the lawsuit after they are served.
