NYPD TO ARGUE FOR DISMISSAL OF CIVIL RIGHTS SUIT CHALLENGING ITS USE OF LONG RANGE ACOUSTIC DEVICE (“LRAD”) SOUND WEAPONS

AGAINST BLACK LIVES MATTER, OTHER PROTESTERS

WHAT: Oral arguments in Federal Court before Hon. Robert W. Sweet in lawsuit over NYPD uses of LRAD sound cannons against protesters

WHEN: 1/26/17 at 12:00pm

WHERE: US District Court – 500 Pearl Street, NY, NY – Courtroom – 18C

CONTACT: Gideon Orion Oliver, Gideon@GideonLaw.com, 646-263-3495

On December 5, 2014, the six Plaintiffs in Edrei, et al. v. City of New York, et al. were participating in or observing and documenting Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality in the wake of a December 2014 Staten Island Grand Jury’s decision not to indict New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officer Daniel Panteleo in the death of Eric Garner, and police response to those protests, when NYPD officers injured Plaintiffs byfiring the so-called “deterrent” pain compliance/area denial tone of a military-grade LRAD sound weapon at them repeatedly, from an unsafe distance, at an unsafe volume.

When lawyers for the Plaintiffs associated with the National Lawyers Guild – NYC Chapter  demanded that the NYPD refrain from using the LRAD for crowd control purposes without first conducting thorough, independent testing, and developing appropriate written and public guidelines for LRAD-related training, use, reporting, and oversight requirements, the NYPD said that the LRAD had been used appropriately, and refused to take any of the steps demanded.

In March of 2016, the Edrei Plaintiffs filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of NY, challenging the NYPD’s LRAD use policies and practices as violating the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the NY State Constitution, and on other grounds, and seeking to enjoin the NYPDfrom using LRADs for crowd control purposes unless the NYPD designs and implements appropriate LRAD-related policy changes, as well as damages and attorney’s fees.

In moving to dismiss the case, the City of New York and NYPD have argued, among other things, that LRAD uses are not uses of force that can cause injury within the scope of Fourth Amendment protections because sound is “not a substance but a physical phenomenon, such as light or gravity”; that LRAD uses cannot constitute seizures within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment because they do not render a person unable to leave the area; and because the LRAD uses at issue were, according to Defendants, objectively reasonable.

In December, Plaintiffs filed the attached and other opposition papers, arguing, among other things, that sound is a physical phenomenon and that the LRAD exerts force (for example, on eardrums) by emitting soundwaves, causing molecules to vibrate, and as suchLRAD uses are uses of force that can cause injury (and did injure Plaintiffs); that LRAD uses for area denial/pain compliance purposes are seizures within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, which restrict peoples’ freedom to remain in a particular area and force them to flee or otherwise relocate on threat of pain and/or injury; that the LRAD uses against Plaintiffs violated their First Amendment-protected rights to assemble and to gather and disseminate information (among other rights); and that the City and NYPD’s policies and practices regarding LRAD uses led to Plaintiffs’ injuries and were likely to cause Plaintiffs and others similarly situated injuries in the future unless the City and NYPD conduct appropriate LRAD-related testing and develop appropriate LRAD-related training, use, reporting and oversight requirements.

Tomorrow, 1/26/17, at 12:00pm, in Courtroom 18C at the US District Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in NY, NY, Hon. Robert W. Sweet will hear oral argument on the City’s and NYPD’s motion to dismiss the case.

Members of the public and the press are invited and encouraged to attend.

Other relevant papers filed in the case can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s68dvtkbz15iqc8/AAB1ieOXRo-PpwSOfkud9yXka?dl=0 (Link to expire 2/1/17).

Join the National Lawyers Guild for our online Legal Observer (LO) training in preparation for the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC, Jan. 19-20! Will webinar will be hosting by NLG-DC  Chapter Mass Defense Chair Maggie Ellinger-Locke and NLG-DC Co-Chair Caleb Medearis. The online training will be presented in a webinar format, taking place this Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, at 2 PM EST/11 AM PST.

The NLG DC Chapter will be coordinating on the ground legal support for #J20 (Presidential Inauguration) demonstrations—we are seeking volunteer LOs who will be on the ground in DC for at least some portion of #J20 related events, Jan 19 -21.

IMPORTANT: Registration is required at bit.ly/LOtrainingJ20. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. NOTE: This training is for #J20 (2017 Presidential Inauguration) in Washington, DC only and does not qualify volunteers for Legal Observing at any other event.

The NLG Legal Observer program was established in 1968 in NYC in response to protests at Columbia University and city-wide antiwar and civil rights demonstrations. The NLG LO program is part of a comprehensive system of legal support designed to enable people to express their political views as fully as possible without unconstitutional disruption or interference by the police and with the fewest possible consequences from the criminal justice system. LOs are typically law students, legal workers and lawyers.

Download the flier here

Read all about the latest goings-on in the NYC Chapter in the Spring 2016 issue of New York City News !

U.S. District Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. has extended the comment period on the proposed Settlement Agreement amending the Modified Handschu Guidelines to 11:59 pm on May 26, 2016.

He has also added a final in-court hearing date on June 1, 2016.

All class members who wish to comment in support or in opposition to the proposed Settlement may register to present comments in person on June 1, or may submit written comments without appearing, but must submit the comments or register to address the in-court hearing by 11:59pm on May 26, 2016.

Requests to speak or submission of comments may be done via email to handschusettlement@gmail.com, or by writing to the Clerk of the Court at the address:

Handschu Settlement
c/o Clerk’s Office
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
500 Pearl Street
New York, NY 10007

The June 1 additional fairness hearing session will be held at 10 am in the United States District Court, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY  10007.

Read Judge Haight’s order extending the comment period and adding the additional June 1 fairness hearing session here

Read the Hearing Notice here

Read the text full of the proposed modified Handshu Guidelines here

The following documents contain additional information about the settlement:

Memo in Support of Motion

Notice of Motion

The latest issue of NYC News is here!

The NLG-NYC Summer 2015 issue is jam-packed with committee reports, reviews and member news, and the Spring Fling in photos!

Get your copy here!

With financial support from the NLG Foundation and much hard work, the NYC-NLG Labor & Employment Committee’s Know Your Rights: A 2015 Guide for Workers in New York City palm cards are finally here.

The cards, in Spanish and English, provide information regarding various local, employment-related rights, including rights to minimum wage, overtime, paid and unpaid leave, and to organize, among others.  The Committee partnered with MFY Legal Services, Inc., which will be distributing half of the cards we have printed to workers and clients.  The Committee will be working with local advocacy groups to develop a distribution plan for the remainder of the cards, and for future printed editions.

The cards are available for download here, and there are printing/folding instructions available here.  Feel free to print and disseminate among workers and advocates.

Thanks to everyone who participated in making Spring Fling 2015 a success!

If you took out an ad, bought tickets or sponsored the event, thank you! Your support ensured the event’s success, as a fundraiser and a celebration of the amazing work of our members.

It was a wonderful evening. We had a great turnout, with many familiar faces, and some fresh new ones. The honoree speeches were very moving, and the crowd warm and engaged.

For those who could not attend and would like to view the dinner journal, you can find a link to it here.