NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Since 2009, New York tax payers have paid for $428 million in settlements connected to the NYPD. Todd Feathers of MuckRock filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the department regarding information on civil rights lawsuits the department had been involved in and instead received a list of every lawsuit that has been launched against the NYPD for the past five years.
The documents show most of the cases find the NYPD at fault, according to MuckRock, but not all of them. Gothamist did some research and found the largest settlement wasn't actually very police-related, as it concerned "Google engineer Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, who was hit and partially paralyzed by a falling tree limb in Central Park in 2009," who sued the city for $11.5 million.
Many other cases are clearly police-related, like Jed Meighan's settlement, who was shoved by police during a peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest and broke his wrist. Meighan received $55,000 for his case, and another Occupy Wall Street case garnered a $583,024 settlement for 14 protesters who were arrested during lawful protest. Gothamist notes the number isn't entirely accurate, as many settlement are lowered after the initial lawsuit is filed, which is not shown in the documents.
