Woman Sues City for 3 Mil Over Subway Pepper Spray

A Queens woman who says a police officer used excessive force when he pepper sprayed her in the face during an arrest is suing the city for $3 million. According to the Daily News, Naeema Screven was rushing to catch the A train at the Broadway station in Brooklyn when she ducked under the yellow tape that divided the staircase into "up" and "down." That's a no-no. When she reached the bottom, she was stopped by Officer Elix Hernandez and asked to show identification.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says that when Hernandez told Screven she was being arrested, "She began to yell and scream, causing public alarm. The woman then started swinging her arms, preventing the officer from handcuffing her. The officer used pepper spray to aid in effecting the arrest." (The Civilian Complaint Review Board has exonerated Hernandez.) Screven insists that she was not resisting arrest, but taking out her cell phone to call her mother when Hernandez pepper sprayed her without warning. The suit also claims she was falsely accused of knocking over other commuters by running down an "up" staircase.

Screven tells the News that the incident has left her emotionally scarred: "I think if I did something wrong he could have given me a warning. I never thought in a million years that something like that would happen to me. I'm afraid of him [Hernandez], and I'm afraid of stepping foot in that station."

Photo courtesy MurphyZero.

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By John Del Signore in News on November 13, 2008 3:29 PM

Comments [rss]

holli

being that i actually kno this chic, im sure there is more to the story. she has a stank attitude and im sure she got one when the cop told her she was goin in the wrong direction. and im sure she tried to fight w him and he maced her. sure its messed up but she aint innocent individual trust!

aspiringrapper

She's afraid? Good. Stupid ass people like her should live in fear. So should the panhandlers, preachers & anyone who interferes with the commuting of sane people.

Snoopy

Good question las. Much better question than spits.

Spits must have been camped out at the job fair at the Javits Center, haven't heard much from him lately.

las2381

i know you can randomly get service in some stations, but is her station above ground??? why would you reach for your phone if you were underground on the subway platform??

Spirit of 76

So, MT, if you're out there, read [15] and [22] and tell me again how Snoopy isn't a racist idiot. Nobody else even discusses race, but he can't stay off it. And of course, he trots out all the old stereotypes, including she must be on welfare just because she's black. He must be jealous because her mother and sister are gainfully employed court stenographers while he couldn't get a job to save his life.

I'd want to see eyewitness accounts of this incident before forming an opinion. An amazing number of commenters above have instantly accepted NYPD's version of the events. With all the stories about bad cops on Gothamist, I would have thought people would know better than to take NYPD accounts at face value.

Snoopy

If I was a cop and some bitch with an attitude reached for her cell phone, I would have tazed her or taken her down with a clip of bullets from my sidearm, or put her in a fatal choke hold while I called for backup.

What is this world coming to when people of color can not go down the up staircase to try to get in front of the line? How is one going to get to the welfare office on time?

Billiamsburg

good. keep those types off the subway. crowded enough as is.

r1b2

This ain't your payday, dearie. And now you're going to say you're too frightened to ride the subway again, to use stairs again, to cross yellow lines, etc. Bite me.

AHT

If the cop says you're under arrest, you don't start digging out your cell phone. That would be resisting. Fail, sweetheart.

Snoopy

That fat broad is not vixeny, she is more nixeny. Come on, the bitch is fat and blubbery at 22 years of age. She ain't going to loose weight or get better looking after she gets her 3 mil.

midtown

Great scoop Daily News - I bet the Times wishes Naeema's lawyer had called them with this one. He even sent in a photo of her looking all vixeny.

miz coaster

seriously - 3 million dollars... as a tax payer i dont want to pay this. Sorry, but was she scarred physically? Yes, maybe excessive... but go after the Union, not the city... which I'll have to pay.

Snoopy

Is she trying to do a one person by person slavery repatriation fund?

UnrepentantFenian

I hope that when this suit is dismissed they recover court costs from this selfish twat.

Snoopy

Any description of this alleged perp?

ides_of_march

I honestly don't know who to believe. There are plenty of knucklehead cops out there but there are also people who sue at the drop of a hat.

Anyway, for 3 million I'm willing to bet there are quite a few people who would take a bit of pepper spray in the face.

jaycjay

"so confused as to how going down the up staircase is a crime"

More specifically, she was detained for violating MTA's Code of Conduct, which is legally enforceable under the Public Authorities Law.

There are an infinite number of ways to violate provisions like: "No person on or in any facility or conveyance shall... conduct himself or herself in any manner which may cause or tend to cause annoyance, alarm or inconvenience to a reasonable person or create a breach of the peace."

Papercutninja

Next time you'll just learn to comply, bitch.

flynn110

but i don't want to be arrested! you don't understand! im missing my goddamned train because of you!!

makes sense to me

boo hoo

belated

The woman is an idiot. And $3 mil?! You have GOT to be kidding. It's these ridiculous lawsuits against the city that contributes to the budget holes and raising OUR taxes. People whine just to work the system.