The NYPD for the first time released footage from one of its officers’ bodycams last year — and now it needs to fork over the rest of it, according to a civil rights group that says it will sue to see the unedited tape.
The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest said Thursday it is filing a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court demanding that the NYPD fork over every second of body-camera film from the Sept. 6, 2017, police shooting death of emotionally disturbed Bronx man Miguel Richards.
The NYPD released the video later that month showing a defiant Richards menacing officers from a dark corner in his bedroom. He was killed in a hail of bullets when he pointed what police believed to be a real gun at them. It turned out to be a toy gun.
The released footage does not clearly show him aim the toy weapon.
The NYLPI says cops selectively withheld video from certain officers’ cameras, as well as from the aftermath of Richards’ shooting death.
“The tally of police shootings of individuals with mental illness in New York City — 10 in the last two years alone — is unconscionable,” said the director of NYLPI’s Disability Justice Program, Ruth Lowenkron.
“The public’s right under New York’s Freedom of Information Law to view unredacted body-worn camera footage of these tragic incidents is key to safeguarding the very lives of people with disabilities,” she said.
The NYLPI said police “did little to de-escalate their confrontation with Mr. Richards, who was experiencing a mental-health crisis.”
Police unions have been battling the department and city over the release of body-camera footage — with the city arguing it should be made public in the interest of transparency and the unions charging that the videos constitute “personnel records” exempt from disclosure without a court order.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association sued Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD in January over the release of footage, and a judge ruled in May that the video may be released. But an appeals judge weeks later ordered a stay on the release until an appeals court could rule on the matter.
Source: https://nypost.com/2018/07/19/activists-suing-nypd-for-unedited-video-in-fatal-shooting/