Brett Klein Says Legal Settlement Involving Former NYC Police Officer Proves New York Police Department Engaged in Racial Profiling during “Stop-And-Frisk”

Brett H. Klein, Partner, Leventhal and Klein, LLP, says that a recent settlement by the City of New York and a former officer with the New York Police Department, with a Leventhal & Klein, LLP client from Staten Island, whom the officer falsely arrested, confirms that the NYPD practiced racial profiling while engaging in “stop-and-frisk” tactics. He also said that despite a federal ruling this week that the City’s implementation of “stop and frisk” was declared to be unconstitutional, the NYPD continues to endanger the community and to defend its flawed policies.

Michael Daragjati, a former New York City police officer, recently agreed to a $7,500 settlement for arresting Kenrick Gray for protesting a stop-and-frisk. The City of New York has agreed to pay $125,000 in this matter. On April 15, 2011, Mr. Daragjati stopped Mr. Gray and began to check his person. When Mr. Gray told the officer that he was too rough on him, the officer falsely arrested Mr. Gray on charges of purported disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Mr. Daragjati claimed that Mr. Gray uttered a crude remark at him during the frisk. Mr. Gray spent two days in jail and the charges were dropped.

Mr. Daragjati was heard on a Federal Bureau of Investigations wiretap using a racial slur to describe Mr. Gray, and essentially admitting that the arrest was baseless, on the day of the arrest. He later claimed the slur was not meant to be directed at Mr. Gray personally, but to those who break the law. Mr. Daragjati is currently serving 57 months in a federal prison in Ohio for violating Mr. Gray’s civil rights, as well as for an unrelated extortion conviction.

“This case is proof that racism still exists in the NYPD,” Mr. Klein said. “As confirmed by former Officer Daragjati at his sentencing hearing, the NYPD fostered an environment that encouraged and rewarded his misconduct. The indictment against the NYPD is clear — it does not police itself. We call on the city to immediately implement policies to change this environment by putting an end to stop and frisk, and rooting out all racist and rogue police officers.”

On August 12, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the NYPD’s implementation of stop and frisk — a tactic in which police officers stop people they deem suspicious and check them for possible contraband — violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he vows to appeal the decision, adding that Judge Scheindlin’s ruling will result in higher crime rates and ignored the reduction of crimes in the city. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said her ruling was based on the misconception that police officers engaged in racial profiling.

“There is no question that Officer Daragjati’s despicable conduct was an outgrowth of the city’s stop-and-frisk policies,” Mr. Klein says. “Unfortunately, it took a federal wiretap to remove this cancer from the ranks of the NYPD. As long as Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly continue to deny there are problems with the NYPD’s stop and frisk policies, our community will be in danger.”

For more information, call (718) 722-4100 or visit www.levklein.com.

Leventhal & Klein, LLP specializes in civil rights cases. The attorneys of Leventhal & Klein are admitted to practice in the federal and state courts of New York and New Jersey. Through its civil rights focus, the firm is known for its work in police misconduct and wrongful convictions. The firm also specializes in cases involving false arrest, police brutality, and unwarranted strip search and correction officer misconduct. For more information, call (718) 722-4100 or visit www.levklein.com.

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This release was published on openPR.