New York City’s Tab For Police Misconduct Settlements: Nearly $800 Million Since 2019

NEW YORK — New York City paid much than $117 cardinal past twelvemonth to settee constabulary misconduct lawsuits complete convulsive arrests of protesters successful 2020, bad constabulary activity that led to wrongful convictions successful nan 1980s, and different cases according to a recently published study of metropolis data. Nearly $800 cardinal successful payouts were made complete nan past 7 years.

The largest settlements past year, totaling $24.1 million, went to 2 men who spent much than 20 years successful situation aft they were wrongly convicted for a fatal 1986 robbery successful Midtown Manhattan. Another settlement, for $5.75 million, went to a man who said constabulary blinded him successful his near eye pinch a stun gun.

The analysis, released Monday by nan nonprofit Legal Aid Society, comes arsenic nan nation’s largest metropolis faces a $5.4-billion fund shortfall. Along pinch broader cuts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has projected trimming $22 cardinal from nan New Yrk Police Department’s $6.4 cardinal fund arsenic it continues to tout little crime numbers. Settlements are paid retired of a abstracted portion of nan city’s budget. Elsewhere, they’re paid straight from a constabulary department’s operating budget.

“This study is really astir transparency astir what nan NYPD is costing us,” said Jennvine Wong, nan supervising lawyer pinch nan society’s Cop Accountability Project. “And from what we tin show here, I deliberation it intends that meaningful accountability has been lacking successful nan Police Department. It’s a chronic problem that needs to beryllium addressed.”

NYPD says it’s expanding accountability, helping correct wrongs

In all, nan metropolis settled 1,044 constabulary misconduct lawsuits successful 2025, nan astir since 2019, erstwhile 1,276 were resolved. It was nan 4th consecutive twelvemonth pinch settlements exceeding $100 million. Last year’s full was astir double nan $62.1 cardinal nan metropolis paid successful 2020 to settee 929 lawsuits. In 2024, nan metropolis paid $206.4 cardinal successful 980 lawsuits.

Those amounts are conscionable a portion of nan city’s wide constabulary misconduct toll. The Legal Aid Society’s study covers only suit settlements, not claims that nan metropolis comptroller, nan charismatic successful complaint of financial matters, resolved earlier general litigation.

Of past year’s settlements, astir $42 cardinal were for wrongful convictions and $28 cardinal — astir a 4th of nan payout full — progressive incidents that occurred much than 2 decades ago. Such cases person besides accounted for a important information of nan $796 cardinal nan metropolis has paid to resoluteness constabulary misconduct lawsuits since 2019, nan NYPD said.

“While these cases are very important to address, they show you thing astir nan authorities of policing today,” nan section said successful a statement.

Under Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, nan NYPD “has taken important steps to summation accountability, compliance, and alteration outdated policies that mightiness create greater risk,” nan connection said. The section said it besides useful intimately pinch nan city’s territory attorneys’ offices, providing worldly to facilitate their reappraisal of cases involving wrongful apprehension and condemnation claims.

Multimillion-dollar payouts for wrongful convictions and brutality

The men wrongly convicted successful nan fatal 1986 robbery, Eric Smokes and David Warren, received $13 cardinal and $11.1 million, respectively. In a suit revenge successful 2024 successful national court, they alleged that a corrupt detective relied connected nan connection of an emotionally handicapped and drug-addled 17-year-old who was seeking a measurement retired of his ain abstracted robbery rap. Three of nan 4 witnesses who identified Smokes and Warren arsenic nan killers did truthful only aft being threatened pinch criminal charges, nan lawsuits said.

Another settlement, for $3.9 million, went to Steven Lopez, a sixth man arrested pinch nan alleged Central Park Five, now known arsenic nan Exonerated Five aft their convictions successful nan 1989 rape of a female jogger were overturned. The 5 went to proceedings but Lopez, nether aggravated constabulary and nationalist pressure, pleaded blameworthy to a lesser complaint that he mugged a antheral jogger nan aforesaid night.

Other settlements included $1.7 cardinal for 4 protesters who said officers hit them pinch batons aliases threw them to nan crushed during a June 2020 objection successful Brooklyn complete nan execution of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

The metropolis paid $5.2 cardinal to 9 group who said they were framed successful cases from 2014 to 2016 by 2 officers who were later convicted of falsifying grounds aliases paperwork.

Stop-and-frisk continues to beryllium a concern, constabulary show says

Last week, a court-appointed show criticized nan NYPD for poorly supervising and underreporting officers’ usage of nan maneuver known arsenic stop-and-frisk. In 2013, a national judge ruled that nan NYPD’s predominant usage of nan maneuver to hunt for guns and narcotics violated nan civilian authorities of Black and Latino New Yorkers.

Since then, nan section has sharply trim down connected stop-and-frisks, but continues to person “unacceptably debased compliance rates” pinch law protections, said nan monitor, Mylan L. Denerstein.

The NYPD’s staggering colony costs propose much needs to beryllium done to thrust down misconduct, and a “lack of accountability has continued to lend to a civilization of impunity,” Wong said.

“These judgments and colony costs are costing nan metropolis truthful overmuch money and are costing nan victims of constabulary misconduct not conscionable monetary losses and financial losses, but besides causing existent quality trauma that they transportation pinch them,” she said.

Sisak writes for nan Associated Press.