Five people who were in the middle of a police brawl at Marcy Houses housing in Brooklyn plan to file a lawsuit against the city and NYPD.
The lawsuit stems from an incident that occurred around 11 p.m. on Saturday when police officers responded to reports of a large and unruly crowd at the housing project. Officers said that tenants were holding an annual Marcy Day event.
However, when officers tried to break up the event, the crowd got violent, according to the NYPD. They arrested four people, including a 17-year-old accused of head-butting a cop.
Jeffrey Lloyd, Ron Fernandez and Lawrence Lee, three of the individuals who want to sue the city, were cited for disorderly conduct and released on desk appearance tickets.
Unique Silver was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction, disorderly conduct and drinking in public. Ja-Nay Graham wasn’t charged with anything, but says that she was hit in the head by an officer’s nightstick as she was filming the scuffle.
“I didn’t do anything,” Graham said. “I wasn’t arrested because I was innocent. I was just trying to find out what happened to my nephew and that happened to me… The police were using straight excessive force on everyone. It was a good day, nobody was fighting, nobody was arguing,” she added, “They were just pushing and spraying mace at kids and pushing kids. It was all uncalled for.” The men and women said that they endured injuries, including a shattered jaw and a hit to the head with a police baton.
“Not only are they injured … but now they have to face criminal charges when they did nothing wrong,” said civil rights attorney Sandy Rubenstein, who filed a notice of intent to sue the city.
They plan to sue for a combined total of $85 million.
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