NY Attorney General Sues NYPD over ‘Excessive Force’; Wants Police Monitor

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the city of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea on Thursday to put a monitor in place for the police department.

The reason for the lawsuit aiming to monitor the NYPD’s activities stems from allegations of civil rights abuses, especially alleged use of excessive force by officers at protests over George Floyd’s death last year, CNBC reported.

“No one is above the law — not even the individuals charged with enforcing it,” James said Thursday.

James said the lawsuit — which names de Blasio, Shea, and Chief of Department Terence Monahan as the defendants — delves into years of false arrests and excessive force incidents, most recently during the Black Lives Matter protests last year.

“The NYPD and its senior leaders failed to address this longstanding pattern of abuse by not properly training, supervising, and disciplining officers to prevent misconduct, despite knowing and publicly admitting that it violated the rights of New Yorkers,” James said.

James said the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, is necessary to reform the NYPD, and the monitor would help oversee the NYPD’s policing tactics at future protests to ensure brute force is not being used.