An aggressive tactic deployed by the New York Police Department to trap anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters in 2020 is proving to be costly. But not for the police department — for taxpayers.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that New York City officials had reached a settlement with hundreds of protesters over the NYPD’s use of “kettling,” a maneuver in which police surround protesters before making arrests. (USA Today published a thorough explainer on the practice and its troubling history, which you can read here.)
The New York incident occurred in the Bronx on June 4, 2020, when thousands took to the streets in the city — and many more nationwide — to demonstrate against police brutality after the filmed murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Here’s a viral tweet from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who represents the Bronx, in real time:
NBC News described the settlement:
In the filing, the city agreed to pay eligible class-action members $21,500 each, as well as another $2,500 to each person who received a desk appearance ticket. The two named plaintiffs in the case would receive another $21,500 “service award,” according to the proposed settlement, which must be reviewed and approved by the court before taking effect.
(FYI: A desk appearance ticket is a police-issued notice for someone to appear in court.)
After the Bronx incident, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s police commissioner at the time, Dermot Shea, both endorsed the kettling tactic and suggested its use was necessary against the protesters.
But in late 2020, an independent watchdog concluded that the NYPD had engaged in widespread abuse against protesters earlier that year, just as many demonstrators had claimed, and DeBlasio expressed “remorse.”
The kettling incident was cited in an ongoing lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed in 2021 against the NYPD, its leadership and de Blasio over the department’s “pattern of…
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