By: Jared Evan
State legislators Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson (D, WFP-Brooklyn) and Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie (D, WFP-Brooklyn) on Monday filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the New York Police Department (NYPD) for allegedly violating their free-speech rights, Kings County Politics reported.
The lawsuit also names the City of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, and certain known and unknown NYPD officers as defendants, KCP reported.
“On May 29, 2020, I stood in the streets of Brooklyn with my constituents to voice outrage after the murder of George Floyd added yet another tragic chapter to the long history of police brutality against Black citizens. My community and I were in grief and pain, and I sought to add my voice to the chorus of protest, standing in solidarity as the community called for police accountability for violence against Black citizens,” said Myrie, who represents the 20th Senate District in Central Brooklyn.
On the evening of May 29th, the George Floyd protests, exploded in complete violence and some described it as insurrection. Colinford Mattis, 32, an Ivy-educated corporate lawyer in Brooklyn, and Urooj Rahman, 31, who is also a lawyer took to the streets to violent revolt against the NYPD and ended up tossing a Molotov cocktail at an empty NYPD squad car.
This is key to understanding the police response to the BLM riots which occurred at the end of May 2020.
“Myrie is leaving out the details about the protests which she attended. The police came in with a hands-off approach, and were assailed for hours on end on May 29th, this lasted for almost 6 days, the protests were worse in Brooklyn, most of the city. The police took an incredibly soft approach initially, compared to the past, when NYPD would come out swinging, the NYPD were very hands off during the BLM stuff”, an unnamed EMS worker described the scene last year to TJV.
“At the same time, I felt I had an obligation to try to mediate and keep the peace between citizens and the police, given the large police presence and the intensity of the community’s pain,” added Myrie whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica. “Yet, instead of being given a chance to mediate as peacemaker, I, too, became a victim of violence by the police department.” , she continued at a recent press conference regarding the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Richardson, who represents the 43rd Assembly District, also in Central Brooklyn, said: “Like so many of my fellow New Yorkers, I took part in a peaceful protest against the killing of George Floyd and the lack of accountability of police departments across this country for their use of excessive force, particularly against Black and brown Americans.
