'Stop and Frisk' lawsuit against NYPD gets class action status

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK:



A federal judge has granted class action status to a lawsuit that alleges the New York police department's controversial stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional and amounts to systemic racial discrimination.

Barring an effective appeal on behalf of the city, the decision paves the way for a trial that would require the department to defend before a jury its policy of stopping hundreds of thousands of minority New Yorkers each year.

The decision comes less than a week after a report revealed the number of stop-and-frisks made by the NYPD of young African Americans in 2011 exceeded the number of New Yorkers who make up that racial group. Nearly nine out of 10 of the 685,724 citizens stopped by the police last year had committed no crime.

"This is a victory for people of color and all people in New York City," said Sunita Patel, a staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit legal organization representing the four plaintiffs in the suit. "We finally have a decision saying that the NYPD should be put on trial for its practice of stop-and-frisk." .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/16/new-york-stop-and-frisk-lawsuit

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. excellent. Comment following NYT article on this

If lives and law and order mattered to Bloomberg/Kelly, they would be standing over the shoulder of every player at JPM, GS and the other looters on Wall Street.

The billions Wall Street steals through fraud and market manipulation, both here and around the globe, lead directly to starvation for thousands of the world's most vulnerable. I'm pretty sure there's a profile for these types, which no doubt approaches 90%, and it isn't African-American or Hispanic.

Of course, Bloomberg/Kelly work for Wall Street, not people of color. They hate the 1st Amendment and despise dissent. They also hate the 14th Am. and despise equal treatment under the law.

As one of the earlier comments noted, the Bloomberg/Kelly assault on New Yorkers' civil liberties looks very much like an attempt to force persons of color out of NYC.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. kick!

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R