NYC taxpayers paid nearly $54 million to settle NYPD misconduct claims as Mayor Zohran Mamdani has \u201cyet to deliver meaningful policing reform,\u201d justice advocates charged on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
New data<\/a> from the Legal Aid Society released on Sept. 16 showed that seven months into the Mamdani administration, New Yorkers paid millions to resolve lawsuits alleging NYPD officer misconduct with $53.5 million paid between Jan. 1 and July 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n During that period, there were 493 lawsuits.\n<\/p>\n \u201cRather than advancing the transformational policing reforms promised on the campaign trail, the Mamdani administration has continued many of the enforcement strategies championed by former Mayor Eric Adams despite pledging to chart a fundamentally different course,\u201d Legal Aid said in a statement.<\/p>\n Some of the police reforms Mamdani zeroed in on while campaigning for mayor last year included disbanding the NYPD\u2019s Strategic Response Group, saying that the elite group should not be used to manage protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Legal Aid also criticized the administration for continuing fare evasion enforcement and what they described as other \u201clow-level\u201d enforcement practices in the subway system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNew Yorkers voted for a fundamentally different approach to public safety, one that promised to move away from the failed policing strategies that have driven over-policing, undermined constitutional rights, and failed to make New Yorkers safer,\u201d said Phil Desgranges, attorney-in-charge of criminal law reform at Legal Aid. \u201cSeven months into the Mamdani administration, taxpayers continue paying millions to resolve allegations of police misconduct while New Yorkers continue to suffer the consequences of over-policing.\u201d<\/p>\n Officers speak out<\/p>\n Police unions pushed back on the criticism from the analysis, saying lawsuit settlements do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing by officers.\n<\/p>\n \u201cLawsuit payments are no reflection on how police officers are performing their duties,\u201d Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Hendry told amNewYork. \u201cThe city routinely settles lawsuits in cases where police officers have done nothing wrong, rather than fighting them in court. Police officers are often not informed of these settlements and have no opportunity to clear their name.\u201d<\/p>\n Even officers who have been off the job for years can still find their complaints on 50-a.org<\/a>, even if all the complaints are unfounded or the officer was exonerated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, amNewYork contacted the mayor\u2019s office for comment on the lawsuit settlements and police reform and is awaiting a response.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Calling out bad behavior<\/p>\n Legal Aid and other advocates singled out some officers, including Queens\u2019 113th Precinct Lt. Howard Roth, who has accumulated over $400,000 in civil suit payouts among 11 different cases, most involving the city, but some involving private entities, such as big-box superstore Target.\u00a0<\/p>\n In one case, according to 50-a.org<\/a>, Roth and other officers arrested a woman at a Washington Heights roadblock in 2023 after she pulled pepper spray from h er glove compartment while looking for her license and registration. The woman, who has multiple sclerosis, alleged Roth handcuffed her and prevented her from using her cane.\u00a0<\/p>\n The case was settled for $42,500 in 2025.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe NYPD consistently refuses to meaningfully discipline officers who kill and abuse New Yorkers, perpetuating the violence and sending a clear message that officers can enact grievous harm with impunity,\u201d Divad Durant, member of the Justice Committee<\/a> in NYC, said. \u201cTake Lt. Howard Roth, who has a record of 48 misconduct allegations and has cost the city over $400,000 in civil suit payouts so far.<\/p>\n However, of Roth\u2019s 48 misconduct allegations, 15 were substantiated, according to 50-a.org.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n But Durant also called attention to the police shooting of Allan Feliz in 2019 by Jonathan Rivera and other high-profile cases.\n<\/p>\n \u201cOr Officer Wayne Isaacs, whose discipline process for killing Delrawn Small has dragged on for over a decade,\u201d Durant said. \u201cThe list goes on, because these cases are not the exception \u2013 they\u2019re the status quo for NYPD. Without critical action from the Mamdani administration, New Yorkers will continue to be harmed by cops and then forced to pay for their impunity with their tax dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n