'Go Get Some More Minorities,' Said Cops Enforcing Curfew: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — A young Black man arrested and thrown into an NYPD paddy wagon with other New Yorkers of color heard one officer tell another, "Let's go get some more minorities," a new lawsuit contends.

Kadeen Walters filed suit against the city Thursday for what he describes as one of many discriminatory arrests made during the George Floyd solidarity protests and resultant citywide curfew, Manhattan federal court records show.

"The officers who illegally targeted him and other minorities to arrest were using the fact of the 'curfew' to target people of African Descent and other people of color for arrest," the suit contends.

"This fact was made plain to Mr. Walters when he heard his arresting officers say they were trying to find more minorities to arrest instead of taking him and the others already in the van, who were people of color, to the precinct."

NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Edward Riley declined to comment on the lawsuit. Walters's attorney did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Three days after Mayor Bill de Blasio enacted an 8 p.m. curfew spurred by national outrage over Floyd's death under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Walters and friends decided to bike home from Manhattan to Brooklyn, according to the suit.

The group stopped near East Houston and Broadway shortly after 8 p.m. to discuss routes when a group of men in civilian clothing leapt out of a dark car with tinted windows and began shouting, the lawsuit says.

Walters sped away, afraid for his life, and the men jumped in their car, chased him several blocks and shouted, “I’m going to hit you," the suit contends.

It was only when one car began flashing its siren that Walters understood police officers were chasing him, the suit says.

Walters jumped off his bike and put his hands on his head and about a dozen police officers charged, slammed him to the ground and stomped on his back, according to the complaint.

"I couldn't see faces or badges," Walters told his attorneys. "I could only see boots as I tried to protect my face."

As the officers arrested Walters for breaking the curfew, he tried to explain he'd been biking home, the suit contends.

Walters then asked why a white man across the street, who stood filming him, was not facing similar consequences, the suit contends.

According to the suit, the officers would soon answer his question indirectly.

The officers led Walters to a police transport van where he would be joined by a group of alleged curfew breakers — including a Washington Square Park protester and two essential workers who had been on a smoke break — all of whom were people of color, according to the civil suit.

This is one among many civil suits that have been filed against the NYPD over police conduct during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

A former U.S. Marine and essential worker, a group of professional journalists, a mother of three, a teenaged high school student, and New York's own attorney general are among those who have brought charges against police.

Police conduct during the protests has also prompted a review from the Civilian Complaint Review Board and an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation.

Walters spent the night in jail and was charged the following morning with the misdemeanor offense of obstructing governmental administration, the suit says.

According to the suit, Walters walked home on a leg that was injured during his arrest because the police had confiscated his bicycle.