NYC to Pay $583,000 for False Arrest of 14 Occupy Wall Street Activists
Today, lawyers announced the largest settlement to date involving Occupy Wall St protesters and the City of New York, with the city paying out $583,024 to 14 who were falsely arrested. ● After the police stopped and encircled the marchers, Captain Taylor told the marchers that they were blocking the sidewalk and had to disperse. Some marchers heard the order and tried to exit the area blocked off by the police. Other police officers prevented many of them, including the plaintiffs, from leaving. In addition to the plaintiffs, approximately 20 others were arrested, including citizen journalists and legal observers. Garrett O’Connor, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, described his arrest: “Captain Taylor personally prevented me from obeying his order, by stepping in my way and putting his hand on my chest when I tried to leave. A few seconds later, I was on the ground with my face on the pavement and several police officers on top of me.” Those arrested were held at the 9th precinct before being issued Desk Appearance Tickets and released. “This systematic false arrest and misconduct by high ranking NYPD officers is a symptom of an institutional practice of chilling expressive speech activity and suppressing protest in New York City,” said Wylie Stecklow of Stecklow Cohen & Thompson. “The police, led by supervising officers, stopped peaceful protesters on the sidewalk, surrounded them with a blue wall of police, told them to disperse, and then arrested them before they possibly could. This was an unacceptable violation of basic constitutional rights perpetrated by the Bloomberg-Kelly NYPD."