City Shells Out $121M In NYPD Misconduct Lawsuits Last Year: Study

NEW YORK CITY — City taxpayers ended up on the hook for a whopping $121 million in NYPD misconduct lawsuit payouts last year, a new study found.

Misconduct payouts from lawsuits in 2022 were the largest in at least five years, according to The Legal Aid Society study.

And total NYPD police misconduct payouts likely were even higher because the numbers don't account for settlements for cases that didn't go to court, advocates said.

“Rampant NYPD misconduct continues to cost New Yorkers tens of millions of dollars each year, and Commissioner Keechant Sewell’s entrenched resistance to meaningful accountability means many of the officers involved in these lawsuits likely received a mere slap on the wrist, if any discipline at all,” said Maggie Hadley, legal fellow with the group's Criminal Defense Practice’s Special Litigation Unit, in a statement.

NYPD officials told Patch that they work with the city’s law department over what they called “police action” lawsuits.

“That collaboration has helped to reduce the number of lawsuits and claims being filed against this Department as well as reduce the payouts for both,” an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement. “While the decision to settle a lawsuit and for how much remains with the Law Department and the Comptroller, the NYPD actively seeks out information learned from these lawsuits in order to improve officer performance and enhance training or policy, where necessary.”

A substantial portion of NYPD payouts in 2022 actually stemmed from decades-old cases in which defendants were exonerated. Muhammad Aziz, for example, received $13 million over his wrongful conviction in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, according to the list.

Advocates highlighted a much more recent cases in a release about their analysis.

A homeless man received $135,000 over a May 2020 incident in which two cops punched, pepper-sprayed and dragged him from a subway car. Both officers remain with the NYPD, advocates said.

One of those cops — Adonis Long — had five previous civilian complaints against him, including an accusation of excessive force that civilian watchdogs substantiated, advocates said. Civilian Complaint Review Board members also substantiated misconduct accusations against him for the subway incident, and a disciplinary decision is pending, according to records.