COURT CLEARS WAY FOR TRIAL ON CLAIMS OF RACIAL PROFILING

Yesterday, a federal judge denied the majority of New York City’s motion for summary judgment on claims that the NYPD engages in the widespread pattern of unconstitutional stops and frisks of black and Latino men, and held that a jury must resolve whether the alleged pattern or practice was so common as to imply the acquiescence of senior policy-making officials in the NYPD.

In the 86-page decision in the putative class action of Floyd v. The City of New York, 08 Civ. 1034, Southern District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin stated that the plaintiffs in the case alleged “a disturbingly large racial disparity in who is victimized” by the NYPD practice of stopping and frisking individuals without reasonable suspicion.

“It is deeply troubling if thousands of New Yorkers are being stopped each year without reasonable suspicion, and even more troubling if African-American and Latino New Yorkers are being singled out for such treatment,” said Judge Scheindlin in her decision.