FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York Civil Rights Lawyer Eric Sanders, Esq., of The Sanders Firm, P.C., announces a Brooklyn federal Court affirms the jury findings but, reduces the award from $15 to 5.4 million dollars, concluding off-duty NYPD Police Officer Larry Jackson was brutally beaten inside and outside his Queens home
NEW YORK, August 24, 2018 – Today, after eight long years and having his complaints of police brutality completely ignored, a Brooklyn federal Court affirms the jury findings but, reduces the award from $15 to 5.4 million dollars, concluding off-duty NYPD Police Officer Larry Jackson was brutally beaten inside and outside his Queens home.
Jackson contended throughout the trial, although race as a claim was dismissed earlier by the Court, White police officers – who responded to a 911 call from his fiancee’ about a gun-wielding man who tried to crash their daughter’s birthday party – mistreated him after identifying himself.
Jackson claims he was ‘choked’ beaten with police batons, kicked and doused with pepper spray after he identified himself to the White police officers in August 2011. He sustained a fracture to his shooting hand, nerve damage, and other related injuries and will likely have to file for a disability retirement, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
After listening to evidence and legal arguments from both sides over two weeks, a Brooklyn federal jury awarded Jackson $12.5 million in compensatory damages and $2.6 million in punitive damages. However, during several post-trial motions, the Court affirmed the jury findings of excessive force but recommended Jackson to receive $2,750,000 in compensatory damages and $2.675, 000.00 in punitive damages. As the Court noted, “Here, defendants’ conduct was reprehensible; their actions were both violent and malicious,” Chen wrote. “This was not an act of mere negligence; it was an assault intended to cause (Jackson) significant physical and emotional harm.”
“(Their) violent and malicious assault on (Jackson) is wholly improper behavior for law enforcement officers and warrants a strong message of deterrence and censure,” she wrote.
Since the Court dismissed the City of New York, the individual officers are liable for the damages.
“Today, the Court reaffirmed the jury’s decision loud and clear about the Department’s ‘dirty little secret.’ The jury, now the Court did what the Department and the Queens District Attorney’s Office refused to do, hold these ‘out of control’ officers’ ‘legally accountable,’” said lawyer Eric Sanders.
About The Sanders Firm, P.C.
The Sanders Firm, P.C. offers those in the New York City area legal services related and connected to civil rights, civil service rights, criminal law and discrimination. We firmly believe in everyone’s individual rights that are described and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. We understand that our freedoms and liberties are sacrosanct and that they have been won in many and various hard-fought battles. We are committed in every way to protecting your civil rights.
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Eric Sanders, Esq.
President and Owner, The Sanders Firm, P.C.
Business Phone: 212-652-2782