Police Misconduct Cost Yonkers Millions And The Complaints Keep Coming – By BRIAN HARROD
YONKERS, NY — August 1, 2022 — The Yonkers Police Department does not look like the community it serves. Yonkers is 19% Black and 40% Latino. But the YPD’s force of 600 police officers are overwhelmingly white. National Public Radio (NPR) was given unprecedented access to the Yonkers PD by former police chief John Mueller, who this year, became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chief of Police. NPR obtained records of payouts by the City of Yonkers for incidents of alleged police misconduct that took place between 2007 and 2020. This time period in which the payouts occurred was while the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the Yonkers Police Department and recommending areas for reform. During this period of Justice Department investigation and oversight, there were at least 102 lawsuits that alleged misconduct that resulted in either a settlement or a jury verdict with the City of Yonkers. The vast majority of the cases, 95, were settled. Seven payouts came after jury verdicts against the city, in which the plaintiffs were able to make their case in court. The cost to the City of Yonkers taxpayers totaled more than $5.5 million. The average payout was $55,056. Many officers were sued repeatedly over the years. At least 10 officers were named between four and nine times in [...]
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YONKERS, NY — August 1, 2022 — The Yonkers Police Department does not look like the community it serves. Yonkers is 19% Black and 40% Latino. But the YPD’s force of 600 police officers are overwhelmingly white. National Public Radio (NPR) was given unprecedented access to the Yonkers PD by former police chief John Mueller, who this year, became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chief of Police. NPR obtained records of payouts by the City of Yonkers for incidents of alleged police misconduct that took place between 2007 and 2020. This time period in which the payouts occurred was while the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the Yonkers Police Department and recommending areas for reform. During this period of Justice Department investigation and oversight, there were at least 102 lawsuits that alleged misconduct that resulted in either a settlement or a jury verdict with the City of Yonkers. The vast majority of the cases, 95, were settled. Seven payouts came after jury verdicts against the city, in which the plaintiffs were able to make their case in court. The cost to the City of Yonkers taxpayers totaled more than $5.5 million. The average payout was $55,056. Many officers were sued repeatedly over the years. At least 10 officers were named between four and nine times in [...]
