New York, NY – Public housing residents can proceed with a class action lawsuit claiming that New York City and the New York City Housing Authority allowed the police to set up “checkpoints” that routinely violated tenants’ rights in front of their homes, a federal judge ruled.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
A city attorney defended the program.
“We are disappointed with the decision, but continue to believe that we will ultimately prevail in the lawsuit,” said Celeste Koeleveld, executive assistant for Public Safety. “Vertical patrols help keep residents safe, and the NYPD’s policy is sound.”
The residents complain that, under the police, “officers indiscriminately stop and question every person they observe, without objective individualized suspicion of a crime, and unlawfully arrest individuals for trespass without probable cause.”
They claim that the city “failed to supervise and discipline officers” involved in these practices and has not “instituted any follow up procedure or disciplinary action when charges are dismissed or where it is otherwise established that an individual was arrested without probable cause.”