Harlem Bigwig Falsely Arrested After 'Dooring' Cyclist, Lawsuit Claims

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem political leader filed suit against the city on Friday, alleging he was falsely arrested and kept in custody for 24 hours after hitting a cyclist with his car door last year — saying the ordeal left him depressed and humiliated.

Keith L.T. Wright, a longtime Assemblyman from Central Harlem and current chair of the Manhattan Democratic Party, was arrested last September and accused of hitting the cyclist on Fifth Avenue near West 139th Street — then leaving the scene.

But charges against Wright were dropped weeks later — and Wright now says he was the real victim in the "dooring" saga.

"At the time of my arrest, I was 66 years old, had lived in Harlem all my life, and had never ever been arrested or incarcerated before," Wright said in a sworn affidavit. "I served in the State Legislature in excess of 20 years, where I represented many of the people at the location of the accident. Accordingly the last thing I would do was commit a crime."

Wright says he parked his BMW just before 9 p.m. on Aug. 26 outside a store on Fifth Avenue. As his next-door neighbor sat inside the car, Wright opened the driver's side door — and within a "fraction of a second," the e-bike rider crashed into it, sending him flying.

After the crash, Wright says he and his passenger "immediately offered to assist" the cyclist, looking around for any items that he dropped during the crash and offering to drive him to Harlem Hospital a few blocks away. But the cyclist repeatedly declined the offers, saying he felt "ok" and ultimately getting back on his bike, Wright says.

All told, Wright says he spent 40 to 45 minutes with the cyclist — a very different account from the one offered by police, who suggested he had sped away.

About two weeks later, Wright blamed the cyclist for the collision in a telephone interview with NYPD Detective Lamount Deaderick, who later filed the criminal complaint.

"I was about to open my car door while he was riding an electric bike," Wright allegedly said. "It is his fault for running into my door."

"I told him to go to the hospital. I did not exchange my information with him. I asked for his information but he did not give it to me," Wright added, according to Deaderick.

Wright was arrested days later, then held for more than 24 hours at Manhattan Criminal Court, according to his lawsuit. That same day, Wright was illegally searched by Deaderick at the NYPD's 25th Precinct in Harlem, the suit says.

Wright is now turning the tables on the cyclist, who he claims was riding at more than 25 miles per hour and was carrying a cellphone with which he could have called himself an ambulance.

Meanwhile, the political bigwig says that the embarrassment surrounding his arrest — which was covered by multiple news outlets — left him "extremely depressed."

"I felt that I had failed my community, my family, my constituents and my neighbors," Wright said. "Whenever I discussed my arrest and incarceration, I had difficulty sleeping, eating and concentrating on matters of importance. This shame and depression took over my life and still affects me."

Wright's lawsuit, filed against the city and Deaderick, demands $10 million in damages for false arrest, emotional distress and other violations.

An NYPD spokesperson told Patch that the agency "will review the lawsuit if and when we are served."

Wright, reached for comment by Patch on Monday, declined to discuss the lawsuit, saying only that the arrest was "a horrible, horrible occurrence which didn’t need to happen."