Dec. 10, 2020 12:17 p.m.
A Black Lives Matter protester won a judgment this week against New York City in a lawsuit over two police officers who lied in official paperwork and on the witness stand after her arrest during a 2016 march in Manhattan.
Ironically, the judgement, which will cost the city more than $52,000, arises out of a now-discontinued NYPD scheme to reduce the amount of money the city pays out to protesters who sue over false arrests – not by reducing the number of false arrests, but by coercing protesters into signing away their rights to sue.
The lawsuit, brought by Cristina Winsor, a 43-year-old artist and activist, alleged that her arrest and prosecution was part of a larger “pattern and practice” on the part of the NYPD that deprives protesters of their constitutional rights.