Lawyers demand probe into NYPD's 'unlawful' detention of low-level offenders

Defense lawyers are calling for a city investigation into what they describe as the NYPD's "unlawful" practice of detaining people for low-level offenses instead of issuing court summonses.

Citing a Gothamist report from last week, lawyers with the Legal Aid Society said thousands of people have been held in jail this year who should have been fingerprinted and released with a ticket and an order to appear in court at a later date.

The call comes after two men died in police custody over the last two weeks while awaiting arraignment for petit larceny and drug possession, crimes that should have been eligible for a court summons instead of jail detention. That leniency to low-level crimes is baked into a series of criminal justice reforms approved by the state Legislature and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.

Police, who’ve long opposed these criminal justice reforms, maintained they were following legal exceptions by holding people who couldn’t provide identification.

Major crime has fallen in the city, but arrests have surged as Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch have voiced an increasingly tough-on-crime message — even against low-level offenders.

Some legal experts have said the consequences have disproportionately affected marginalized communities and raised concerns about civil liberties.

"This practice is subjecting vulnerable New Yorkers to unnecessary arrests and risks to their health and safety, including death," Meghna Philip, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society, wrote in a letter to the city’s Department of Investigation.

The letter requested an immediate investigation into the NYPD's detention practices.

The request follows the death of Soso Ramishvili, 32, who was discovered unconscious on March 21 after being arrested for petit larceny — allegedly taking $213 worth of merchandise from Home Depot.

Police said he was detained instead of being given a summons because he didn't have identification. Police said he was given a chance to call his family to bring him his identification.

A second man, a 43-year-old whose name has not been released, died in NYPD custody at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on March 26, authorities said. Officials said he was arrested near Times Square for holding a subway gate open and asking for money, with police later charging him with drug possession.

In 2021, 55% of people accused of petit larceny were given summonses and not detained, according to data kept by the state's court system. For the first two months of this year, that number was only 26%, meaning nearly three-quarters of those charged with petit larceny were jailed and held for arraignment.

These figures do not include attempts by district attorneys to divert or decline to prosecute.

The Legal Aid letter pointed to specific cases where people were detained for minor infractions: two individuals taking up more than two seats on the subway, another for fare evasion, and a fourth for having tinted windows. Three of those cases were dismissed immediately upon arraignment, Philip said

The NYPD defended its practices in a statement, saying there is an exception in the law that allows officers to hold low-level offenders, but didn’t specify what the exception was. Last week, a spokesperson said that included a person without identification could be held in jail instead of issuing them a ticket.

Philip wrote that such an excuse is “cover for its aggressive targeting, arrest, and detention of vulnerable, low-income New Yorkers."

On the day Ramishvili died, 13 people were arrested in Brooklyn and held for fare evasion rather than receiving summonses, according to the letter.

She added that in January and February alone, 248 people were jailed for violations like disorderly conduct and 2,086 people were held for low-level drug possession.

The Department of Investigation said it is reviewing the letter.