Saying Hello To Neighbors Got This NYC Man Jailed, Lawsuit Says

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Crown Heights man is suing the city after cops arrested him for greeting his neighbors, court records show.

Horace Outlaw, 64, filed suit against the City of New York and NYPD officer Brian Feeley in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday for what he says was an unwarranted arrest in Crown Heights on April 3, records show

Outlaw, a superintendent for two Manhattan buildings, was returning to his home on Prospect Place and Rochester Avenue about 8 p.m. when he said hello to a group of men standing on the corner, according to his suit.

Suddenly a group of cops appeared on the street and lined the men up against a wall, the suit says.

Outlaw tried to explain he'd been walking by but cops handcuffed the 64-year-old behind his back, put him in a police car and drove him to the 77th precinct, according to the suit.

Cops refused to let Outlaw make a phone call and held him in a cell for six hours until they released him at 2 a.m., according to the suit.

Outlaw was given a summons for drinking Hennessy from a plastic cup in public, the suit says.

But Outlaw said he hasn't drunk alcohol since he was 18 years old and, when he offered to prove it by taking a breathalyzer test, police refused.

The summons was dismissed in court June 14, according to the suit.

Outlaw is asking for a jury trial and damages for a "malicious prosecution" he says caused "fear, embarrassment, humiliation, emotional distress, frustration, anxiety and loss of liberty."

A New York City Law Department spokesperson told Patch it will review the case once it receives a copy of the suit.