SALON

Monday, Mar 18, 2013 12:57 PM UTC

Stop-and-frisk goes on trial

The landmark federal class-action will challenge the NYPD for targeting young black and Latino men

By

Topics: NYPD, Racism, stop-and-frisk, Police, center for constitutional rights,

Stop-and-frisk goes on trial (Credit: Shutterstock)

The landmark federal trial, Floyd vs. City of New York, which challenges the constitutionality of stop-and-frisk practices used by the NYPD. Lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights who are bringing the class-action suit believe it will be the “trial of the century,” probing whether the police have been unlawfully stopping black and Latino young men.

As the New York Times noted, the class-action “claims to represent ‘hundreds of thousands if not millions of people’ who experienced ‘suspicionless and race-based stops’ by the city’s police officers.” The NYCLU noted last week that the NYPD under Mayor Bloomberg have carried out 5 million stop and searches, over 86 percent of which on black or Latino individuals.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers will be seeking to prove that NYPD officers, under pressure to fulfill quotas, are tacitly but systematically encouraged to target young, minority race males. The named plaintiff, David Floyd, a medical student in the Bronx, was stopped twice by police — once just walking along the sidewalk, once helping a neighbor into their apartment.

Both Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have stood by stop-and-frisk practices while criticism has mounted in recent years. In a recent poll, 55 to 39 percent of voters said they disapprove of stop-and-frisk and  44 to 22 percent that they are less likely rather than more likely to vote for a mayoral candidate who supports continuing the tactic.

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 1 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
254 points255 points | 28 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
180 points181 points | 79 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
43 points44 points | 18 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
29 points30 points | comment
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
29 points30 points | 23 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations