Brooklyn Army Vet: I Was Harassed, 'Humiliated' By Racist, Pro-Trump NYPD Cop

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Najja Plowden, a 35-year-old army veteran, soccer coach and therapist for special-ed kids who lives in Crown Heights, is suing the city for what he calls a night of "humiliation" at the hands of 77th Precinct NYPD Officer Nicholas Loweth — an ordeal he claims amounted to "false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution."

In the suit, filed last Friday, Plowden claims he was "peacefully" walking his dog through Brower Park just after midnight on Aug. 17 when two NYPD officers pulled up in their patrol car.

Loweth, one of the officers, allegedly told Plowden it was illegal for him to be in Brower Park after dark — which is true, but which the lawsuit claims is not made clear in park signage — and demanded to see his ID.

"There was a Caucasian individual nearby in the park, playing fetch with a dog, but [Officer] Loweth ignored that individual," the suit says.

Plowden explained that he had left his ID at his house, located three blocks away, the suit says.

But according to the suit, the officers were not sympathetic: "Loweth announced that since it was illegal for him to be in the park after dark, and since he did not have ID, he was under arrest," it says. On top of that, Loweth allegedly announced he'd discovered a warrant for Plowden's arrest in the system, stemming from a 2013 ticket for illegal skateboarding — a ticket that was not in fact issued to Plowden, but to someone who had stolen his ID, the suit claims.

The officers then drove Plowden down to the 77th Precinct station on Utica Avenue, the suit says. That's when Plowden claims the real emotional abuse began.

Here's what allegedly happened during the seven hours Plowden was imprisoned at the station, under Loweth's watch:

Loweth candidly stated to plaintiff that he had been stopped and detained in Brower Park solely as a matter of racial profiling.

Loweth proclaimed that Mr. Plowden had been singled out because his “culture” is “more problematic,” “more violent,” “more prone to crime,” and that he wouldn’t have been stopped and detained had he been a Caucasian individual in a park at night on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Loweth also harangued plaintiff with comments that Donald Trump was the best option for America because Trump would support the police and support their policing in minority neighborhoods, and would end the “abuse of resources” such as food stamps and welfare by “ghetto” residents.

Loweth was on cell duty at the 77th Precinct for most of plaintiff’s imprisonment there, and lectured Mr. Plowden with this sort of racist dialogue repeatedly over the course of plaintiff’s confinement.

Najja Plowden, a highly-educated, articulate, middle class citizen with no criminal record of any kind, was extremely upset and broke down crying in the detention cell.

Loweth sadistically responded to Mr. Plowden’s crying by laughing at him.

“I started to tear up because I’m a 35-year-old black man, a veteran, with no criminal record,” Plowden told the New York Daily News. “I said, ‘Please, do not do this. Why are you doing this?’"

He added: “I’ve always treated officers with respect. I never thought this would ever happen to me.”

Loweth is still on active duty five months after the alleged ordeal, according to the NYPD.

A spokesperson for the NYC Law Department, which handles all litigation against the city, said the department is currently reviewing Plowden's claims.

Pictured at top: Brower Park in Crown Heights. Photo courtesy of NYC Parks