Protester Thrown Into Unmarked Van By Plainclothes Cops Sues City

NEW YORK CITY — The George Floyd solidarity protester who was thrown into an unmarked van by plainclothes cops is suing the city more than a year after video of her violent arrest went viral and stunned the nation, court records show.

Stickers O'Neill, of Brooklyn, filed suit against the city in Manhattan's supreme court Saturday, more than a year after video of the arrest spurred outrage from New Yorkers and their top elected officials, according to court documents.

O’Neill initially feared the worst — that she was being abducted — because police did not immediately themselves during the July 28 arrest, the lawsuit notes.

"[O'Neill] was plucked from a crowd by a group of plainclothes men without warning and thrown into an unmarked silver minivan," the lawsuit contends.

"Their failure to identify themselves caused Plaintiff, as well as others at the scene, to experience the violent arrest as a kidnapping."

Among other disturbing allegations outlined in the suit is that police punched and elbowed the 18-year-old in the back of the van, which sped away from Second Avenue and East 25th Street before O'Neill could be buckled into her seat.

"When [O'Neill] screamed for help," the suit contends, "[police] ordered her to stop behaving like 'an animal.'”

Police later suggested O'Neill was a “wanted” person but had no warrant for her arrest and neither sought nor obtained one, according to the suit.

O'Neill was released from downtown Manhattan's First Precinct with a desk appearance ticket, the complaint states.

Video of the event was republished by local and national news outlets, capturing the attention of Mayor Bill de Blasio and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, both of whom decried O'Neill's arresting officers' tactics.

Cuomo called the arrest "frightening" and "obnoxious" while de Blasio suggested it was the “wrong time and the wrong place to effectuate arrest," the suit contends.

NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo defended police and put blame on New York leadership, according to a July 2020 statement.

“Detectives did what the government asked of them," DiGiacomo said. "What’s ‘obnoxious’ is your unjustified criticism of those men and women who are holding this city together.”

New York City is currently facing an onslaught of civil suits from protesters who gathered in the streets in the summer of 2020 to protest Floyd's death under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

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• NYPD Beat, Targeted News Photogs During Floyd Protests: Lawsuit

New York Attorney General Letitia James also pursues legal action and has argued the NYPD's violent response to the protests revealed deep problems that warrant federal oversight.

This sentiment also appears in O'Neill's lawsuit, which seeks to hold the city accountable for the NYPD's alleged assault, battery, false arrest and violations of her constitutional rights.

"[Police] actions were wanton, reckless, and malicious, as well as in blatant disregard of O'Neill's civil rights," the suit contends. "[They] are liable for punitive damages, as is the City of New York."