New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Seeks Bodycam Footage from NYPD Shooting of Man Experiencing Mental Health Crisis

New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Seeks Bodycam Footage from NYPD Shooting of Man Experiencing Mental Health Crisis

(New York, NY)—In a key test for New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), civil rights group New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) is suing the New York Police Department (NYPD) for unredacted body-worn camera footage in a fatal shooting.

Police released heavily-edited footage to the public after they shot foreign exchange student Miguel Richards 16 times in September 2017, following a 15-minute confrontation in which Mr. Richards stood silent and motionless, holding what turned out to be a toy gun.

The video showed the police did little to de-escalate their confrontation with Mr. Richards, who was experiencing a mental health crisis. Instead, they yelled repeatedly that “this isn’t going to end well”, that he was “seconds away from getting shot” and asking him, “do you want to die?”

It was the first fatal police shooting since the NYPD’s court-ordered pilot program for the cameras began five months earlier. The edited footage did not include footage from all of the officers’ body-worn cameras, nor did it include footage from the aftermath of the shooting. The NYPD continued to withhold, blur, and mute significant portions of the body-worn camera footage of the shooting, despite repeated FOIL public records requests by NYLPI for the full footage.

“The tally of police shootings of individuals with mental illness in New York City – ten in the last two years alone – is unconscionable,” said Ruth Lowenkron, Director of the Disability Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.  “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.”

Lowenkron at NYLPI, along with former NYPD in-house counsel Stuart Parker volunteering his services with NYLPI, as well as pro bono counsel at Milbank, are filing suit today to obtain the critical footage.

“The New York Freedom of Information Law and the NYPD’s police body camera program both emphasize transparency and accountability to the public, which is put at risk when camera footage of a fatal incident involving an individual experiencing a mental health crisis is shielded,” said Milbank Litigation associate Benjamin Reed. “We are bringing this Article 78 proceeding before the Supreme Court of New York to protect the rights of persons with disabilities and the integrity of FOIL. Access to full, unedited footage of this tragic incident is imperative, and a lot can be learned from the footage to prevent similar outcomes in the future.”

Copies of the petition and memorandum of law filed in New York State Supreme Court, New York County, are available at www.nylpi.org.

About New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI)

Founded more than 40 years ago by leaders of the bar, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest pursues equality and justice for all New Yorkers. NYLPI works toward a New York where all people can thrive in their communities, with quality healthcare and housing, safe jobs, good schools, and healthy neighborhoods. In NYLPI’s vision, all New Yorkers live with dignity and independence, with the resources they need to succeed. NYLPI’s community-driven approach powers its commitments to civil rights and to disability, health, immigrant, and environmental justice. NYLPI seeks lasting change through litigation, community organizing, policy advocacy, pro bono service, and education.

NYLPI has a long history of fighting for New Yorkers with disabilities since its founding, including for access to the criminal justice system. NYLPI brought and won the first case under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1992, enabling people with disabilities to gain access to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Recent successes include a landmark suit which resulted in improved access to paratransit services for people with disabilities who are limited English proficient.  For more information, please visit www.nylpi.org.

About Milbank

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a leading international law firm that provides innovative legal services to clients around the world. Founded in New York 150 years ago, Milbank has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC. Milbank’s lawyers collaborate across practices and offices to help the world’s leading commercial, financial and industrial enterprises, as well as institutions, individuals and governments, achieve their strategic objectives.  For more information, please visit www.milbank.com.