May 7, 2008
NYCLU Sues City, NYPD Over Post Reporter's Stop-and-Frisk Arrest
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit accusing the city and NYPD of racial profiling on behalf of a NY Post reporter who was "stopped, arrested and jailed without justification" last November.
Leonardo Blair told his story in the Post late last year. Blair, a Jamaican immigrant who graduated from Columbia Journalism School in May 2007 and was living with his aunt and uncle in the Bronx, had just parked his car and was walking to the house. The police arrived, questioning what he was doing with the car, asking him to put his arms in the air, then handcuffing him, and ultimately taking him to the station house.
Inside, Officer Reynolds shoved me into a cell. Digging through my bag, Officer Castillo picked out my driver's license and said, "Look at this. He is not even from the projects."Ten minutes later, Blair was released and when he called his aunt, she said, "We're just glad you weren't killed." In the video (above), Blair recounts the experience.I angrily shouted, "Because I am black that means I'm supposed to be from the projects? That's profiling and you know it!"
"Tsk, tsk," Castillo replied.
When Officer Reynolds returned, I again asked why I had been incarcerated. "This is not incarceration. Do you know what incarceration means?" he said.
I unloaded: "I have a master's degree from Columbia University. I am a reporter for the New York Post. What do you mean this is not incarceration?"
The air froze. Officer Castillo kept writing, but I watched his face go flush.
Blair says, “The only reason why I declared to these officers that I was a reporter for the New York Post, that I was a graduate of Columbia University, is because I wanted it to end. I should not have to pull on cards to be respected as an individual.” NYCLU's Donna Lieberman said, "Walking while black is not a crime, and yet every year hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers are stopped, searched and interrogated by the police for doing just that. For justice in our city to be truly just, the NYPD needs to start treating all New Yorkers fairly, regardless of the color of their skin."
Blair discussed his arrest on NPR with Stanley Crouch. The charges against him were ultimately dropped in February.
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I'm surpised those cops didn't stip him naked, and fondled his ass and nuts. I think most cops are secretly gay.
a lot of racial profiling just seems like people wanting to make loud noises, but this guy has a point. totally unnecessary. i hope he wins and those cops get reprimanded.
The police union will make sure nothing happens to these cops and because there are no repercussions for shitty police work, it will continue.
It's like a dog that pisses in the house. If you allow it to happen without punishing the dog, why would he stop?
I think both parties are to blame to some degree.
It's really quite simple with the police. Answer their questions, do what you are told, and if you are innocent you'll go free. While the cops definitely overreacted, it still doesn't change the fact the guy had a chip on his shoulder and got pinched because of it.
Honestly, I have a hard time trusting the guy. It sounds like he had a lot more to gain by blowing this situation up than the cops. Who benefits? Not the cops, that's for sure.
This guy gets to 1) satisfy his desires to uncover racism 2) further his career as a journalist, which will undoubtedly focus exclusively on these issues in the near term and 3) maybe even get a monetary award.
The cop meanwhile is still making $40K a year and probably will have to spend a few more years waiting for a promotion.
Let's not even get into the demographics of crime in this city... It's not like these cops are living in a fantasy world.
i wish he didn't have to sue the city (because i pay for it) but i'm all for him suing the nypd. sue the pigs!
man, i would have loved to seen the pig's face at that moment. priceless.
"The only reason why I declared to these officers that I was a reporter for the New York Post, that I was a graduate of Columbia University, is because I wanted it to end"
Hey, if it'll get you out of a dangerous situation use it. Why keep your mouth shut?
having a chip on your shoulder does not mean you should be "pinched'
sorry, i was once arrested for walking into a precint going to the front desk and stating in a calm way 'i respectfully request to exercize my right to file a civilian complaint against a police officer'
their version of the events were totally different from what i remember and the charges where imediately dropped.
nope sorry, dont believe it, when you are abused by the police you will change your mind quickly.
no citizen should be falsely arrested for excercizing their rights.
thats like saying you vote you get arrested, you dont sit in the back of the bus you get arrested,
50 shots = 50 dead cops
starting with the 108th precint please.
id rather take my chances and live free and die at the hands of anarchist mobs than at the hand of the so called public service the NYpigD
I do not think it is unreasonable to live in a society where you can walk down the street after parking your car without having the answer some cop's question about what you are doing.
Plus, cops choose to become cops. Yeah, it is one of the few jobs with great benefits that requires little to no post-secondary education, but compared to other jobs that only require a GED (and in some cases 60 credits of post-secondary education), it is a major improvement.
NYPD pay sucks, and this is part of the reason that some NYPD cops suck. Raising their pay and the requirements to be a police officer in this city will do wonders to help with the problem of ignorant policing.
ihateallbrokers:
You don't have to live here. Most of the world lacks effective application of government authority, so you have many places to choose from to live out your "live free or die" fantasy.
Our city isn't perfect, but we have several million deadbeats from the aforementioned anarchic third world with which we must contend. It could be much worse.
Oh, and by the way - there are no rights in nature. What you believe to be a right is a privilege you enjoy because of the civilization our laws have created and our citizens, via proxies such as the police, impose.
In any event, good luck fighting your war. I've never met an anarchist liberal like yourself who'd last 30 seconds in a street fight with one person let alone a mob. Go back to playing Grand Theft Auto.
Thank God for African American reporters.
God Bless You for telling the truth.
unlike the hyper loud rabble rousers that's so common on local news.
I'm thankful again Pb is still cheap.
low payrate & 60 college credits & military service
does not mean you have the right to abuse citizens,
higher payrate would mean more abuses, since more abuses and arrests would equal more overtime at a higher payscale, thus greater incentive to gain $$$
the problem is not pay, the problem is an unequal enforcement of barely legal quasi fascist rules that are not applied to all of society, 4 white cokehead stockbrokers would not be executed outside scores for doing the exact same thing thats sean bell did.
cops who ticket people for sleeping on trains should be shot, cops who ticket pregnant women for sitting on subway steps should be hung from lampposts, cops who arrest people smoking joints should be lynched, cops who ticket people for unlawful use of a milkcrate (look that one up) should be given the death penalty.
ghouliani should be sent to gauntanamo.
kerik should be sent to the gas chamber.
gloomberg should be sent to the firing squad.
where should i go? i was born here...
He entrapped those officers with his blackness, huh?
FAIL.
@4:
"This guy gets to 1) satisfy his desires to uncover racism 2) further his career as a journalist, which will undoubtedly focus exclusively on these issues in the near term and 3) maybe even get a monetary award."
I rarely post comments just to dispute another poster's comments, but Polemicist, are you kidding me? Your comments suggest a fundamental lack of understanding of, well, reality. When was the last time a white woman was stopped and questioned about what she was doing with her own car? This smacks of racism, and implying that this victim has a "desire" to that he needs to "satisfy" by uncovering racism is patently absurd. I'm not one to get behind a reporter for the Post, but come on.
I'm not even going to get into your fantastical "several million deadbeats" from "anarchic third worlds." I wish there were an emoticon to express "shaking my head in exasperation."
A J School graduate from Columbia and still living at his aunt and uncles's? Good bye dreams of graduate school!
exactly,
When was the last time a white woman was stopped and questioned about what she was doing with her own car?
i do not see cops stopping and questioning or even arresting anybody on the UES.
never,
i have never ever seen the cops questioning,frisk, cajole, stop, inquire, pat down, hands on the wall, nada, never, no way,
are you saying these people dont have pot? pills,? knives, guns? crack, heroin? a late library book?
in minority neighborhoods cop cars jump curbs, act crazy like they are in movies,
when you are walking the streets at night in the bronx and a cop car stops and a pig steps out and smahes his radio into your friends face for no reason then you will understand.
"uncles's"...Also good bye dreams of spelling bee championship.
[17] Uh, why would he want to go to graduate school? He already has a masters degree.
Yes, he was insubordinate. But that's no excuse for the cops' actions. It's like these guys were straight out of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
Would love to see video of the incident. There's always three versions: version A, version B, and the truth. Abuses occur on both sides, we all know that. Will not conjecture on the interaction. If you're gonna try to get outta something, pull your cards BEFORE ya get cuffed & transported.
And, Ihateallbrokers (heretofore known as IHAB), yeah, we all know you feel you got mistreated, so stop whining. We all know the charges were ultimately dropped (likely not worth the AO showing up for a discon viol).
If you want shots, fly the heli to the roof of the PD, sneak down & steal the uniforn, hijack a cab & get the Rhino from the army base, use a cheat code for God mode, & blast away.
Before you talk guns & shots, get some reality.
You give us non-violent anarchists (only quoting from a posts above, don't know your affiliations, just your same old story) a bad name.
And I hate all brokers, too.
Dadoc
they blew it, this guy wasn't a NY Times reporter.
It's a NY Post reporter. not that anything would change. are they gonna say he's a liberal commie pinko hippie pachouli oil hemp luvin wookie?
Memo to the NYPD: Go ahead and arrest and incarcerate every reporter from the Post you see. There is more than ample justification, as they are all guilty.
&polemicist is rockin' this thread!
#9:
go back to the totalitarian regime you grew up in. oh wait ...
The NYPD should dock an arresting officer's pay for every person he/she arrests who ultimately gets released based on innocence. Not a huge penalty, but enough to make the officers care a little - they might not care about the people whose lives they're disrupting, but they'll care about their paychecks.
"There's always three versions: version A, version B, and the truth."
you speak like a minbari
Now here's something that reaaly deserves a march. Sharpton should get behind this one.
Just ban Police overtime, and 90% of these bogus stop and frisks or bogus Marijuana arrests would stop.
The cops are just doing it to get another 20 hours per week @ time and a half.
They're scamming the city, and deserve to be arrested themselves.
this is a difficylt issue to explain, i am not black nor do i play video games,
do i encourage violence and mayhem and innocent pretty little white kids getting killed?
NO,
do i envision someone sneaking up to a cop and blowing his brains out, YES.
this subject is too difficult to explain.
i know that by posting these messages i might get a knock on my door or be sent to gauntamano.
we live in a prison society. i encourage all people to free themselves from it.
lets talk about iraq,
do i envision our american soldiers getting their brains blown out, yes, i sincerely and wholeheartedly want more american soldiers to die painful and horrible deaths.
now lets look at the reasons, the usa has invaded a country and is currently occupying and stealing their oil, while killing their women and children at a super duper high death rate.
now consder those people opposing the occupation of irag and afganistan, are they terrorists or patriots, freedom fighters, depends on who you ask,
now consider that nyc is invaded, will be stand up and fight or will you be ruled by an invader or foreign authority.
now try to understand why they are wrong and you are right? same fight? same motives.
lets now go back to minorities, how much more of a difference would the average poor oppressed black man feel if NYC was invaded and occupied by a foreign entity, not much else, after all they are already oppressed and feel a paramiltary police presence in their neighborhood. should they fight back, no, i say lets see what happens when the new system is in place, should they fight back against the current oppressors, YES, after all the system is actually created by the same former oppressors who enslaved them and supposedly delivered them from bondage, there is no freedom for the black man in america,
what do i think of al sharpton, hes an idiot,
he should run for mayor, the best reason being that every single person i spoke when he did run for mayor or president or whatever said that if he becomes president then black people will think they can run wild, well ladies and gentlemen it seems to work in some cities and states in the good old usa & african countries, (except zimbabwe ha) that black people do not run amok just becuase a black man is in charge.
right now, whether or not its a black or white cop shooting an unarmed civilian or its a minority cop arresting another minority for weed, its all about padding their overtime and acclimating minorities to the prison system and furthering the ruling elites goal of having them as indentured servants when they find difficulty in getting jobs or going to college.
do i think that the black man and most minorities place themselves in their own mental prison, yes, people like JayZ or Jordan should not be glorified, after all they are vampires sucking $$$ out of the poor communities.
this country was founded on revolution, it was only change from revolution.