From National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/18/174415367/lawsuit-over-nypd-s-stop-and-frisk-program-heads-to-court?sc=tw&cc=share
by Joel Rose
March 18, 2013
A major lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department’s use of warrantless stops in high-crime neighborhoods goes to federal court Monday.
Critics say the NYPD’s practice — known as stop and frisk — is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. But defenders say it is legal and has helped make New York City safer than it’s been in 50 years.
The case, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., is a class-action suit, so the stories of the plaintiffs are all different. But they do have some basic things in common.
“I remember squad cars pulling up. They just pulled up aggressively, and the cops came out with their guns drawn,” says Nicholas Peart, one of the plaintiffs. “I think it left me embarrassed, humiliated and upset — all three things rolled up into one.”
“[They] threw me up against the wall, took everything out of my pockets, threw it on the floor, dumped my bag on the floor, my books and everything,” says David Ourlicht, another plaintiff. “I had the guns to the back of my head. Like, I didn’t want to look up or move because there were so many guns drawn. It’s scary.”
Peart and Ourlicht say they’ve been stopped and frisked multiple times by the NYPD — without doing anything wrong. The NYPD makes hundreds of thousands of warrantless stops every year. The department says the tactic is one reason the city is safer than it has been since the 1960s.
Continue reading at: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/18/174415367/lawsuit-over-nypd-s-stop-and-frisk-program-heads-to-court?sc=tw&cc=share
See also:
Russia Today: NYPD’s stop-and-frisk goes on trial
