AG Fights NYPD's Claim Social Distance Policing Not Racist

NEW YORK CITY — New York Attorney General Letitia James chastised the NYPD Wednesday for what she described as racial bias among NYPD officers enforcing the city's new coronavirus social distancing measures.

“It is inherently wrong to aggressively police one group of people, yet ignore another group that commits the same infraction,” James said in a statement. "The apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies is deeply troubling."

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James' announcement came shortly after Police Commissioner Dermot Shea delivered an unusually impassioned soliloquy in defense of his department during Mayor Bill de Blasio's daily press briefing.

"I, as the Police Commissioner, will not stand for excessive force nor will I stand and defend indefensible actions," Shea said. "But I will also not have my police department called a racist police department.

James is demanding the NYPD address concerns raised by videos of violent social distancing arrests as well as data showing Black and brown New Yorkers make up 80 percent of those to receive summons and 90 percent of those arrested for "COVID-19-related" crimes.

The Attorney General's office contrasted video taken in the East Village — which shows a cop punching, tackling and leaning on the neck of a Black man — with data that show not a single social distancing ticket has been issued in Park Slope or throngs of Prospect Park.

"In majority white communities, it is alleged that the NYPD reacted differently," the Attorney General's release reads.

"Rather than arresting individuals, the NYPD issued summonses and gave out free face masks to the thousands of social distance violators in public parks across the city."

But Shea defended the data Wednesday by noting 374 summons and 125 arrests were both relatively small numbers for a city of 8.5 million people.

"Disparities exist in every facet of life, not just in New York City but in this country," Shea said.
"And it's rooted in much deeper issues than the New York City Police Department."

James asked the NYPD to hand over all documentation on social distance enforcement training and records of 311 complaints.

The NYPD has yet to release the exact number of social distancing arrests and Shea has repeatedly defended the officers seen in the videos, saying, "A punch should not be assumed to be excessive force."

Wednesday morning, Shea briefly promised accountability and transparency to New Yorkers before delivering his statement.

"I will push back strongly on any notion that this is business as usual for the NYPD or that this is 'racist police,'" Shea said. "I think this could not be anything further from the truth."

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