New York City paid $117 million last year to settle lawsuits involving accusations of police and prosecutorial misconduct, many for incidents that occurred decades ago, including a wrongful conviction in a 1987 murder, according to an analysis by a legal defense organization.
The amount was about half of the $206 million the city paid out in such settlements in 2024, according to the analysis, by the Legal Aid Society, New York’s largest provider of criminal and civil legal services for poor clients.
But the number of settlements last year — 1,044, according to the report — was the most since 2019, when the city paid to settle 1,276 suits against the police and prosecutors. The city has paid more than $796 million to resolve such suits since 2019.
The increase in the number of settlements last year, Legal Aid lawyers said, underscores the need for greater accountability in matters that involve accusations of police and prosecutorial misconduct, especially as the city faces a budget gap that threatens Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s goals.
“The N.Y.P.D. is still the agency that costs the city the most in settlements,” said Jennvine Wong, a supervising attorney with Legal Aid, which conducts the analysis annually.
“Something has to be done to increase the accountability so we can prevent misconduct from actually happening,” she added.
Ms. Wong said one measure that could reduce costs would be to have the Police Department pay legal settlements from its operating budget, a recommendation the city comptroller made last year. Those costs are currently absorbed by the city’s general fund.
The police said in a statement that more than a third of the payouts were for wrongful convictions, a large majority of them from cases that happened at least 20 years ago. The department works closely with district attorneys across the city to review cases that led to wrongful convictions, the police said.
“While these cases are very important to address, they tell you nothing about the state of policing today,” the statement said. Under Commissioner Jessica Tisch, it said, the department “has taken significant steps to increase accountability, compliance, and change outdated policies that might create greater risk.”
Sam Raskin, a spokesman for Mr. Mamdani, said in a statement that the mayor and the Police Department shared a goal of “accountability and fiscal responsibility.”
“Every dollar spent on misconduct settlements is a dollar that can’t go to housing, education, parks, or the services that truly make New Yorkers safer,” Mr. Raskin said. “The Mamdani administration is reviewing pending cases across agencies to identify the policies and practices driving these costs.”
The two largest payouts last year went to settle the wrongful conviction of two men in the death of a French tourist on New Year’s Day in 1987.
The tourist, Jean Casse, and his wife, Renée Casse, were robbed on 52nd Street while walking amid a throng of revelers. Mr. Casse, 71, died of major head injuries after being thrown to the ground and hitting his head..
Eric Smokes, 19, and his childhood friend David Warren, 16, were charged with killing Mr. Casse. Mr. Smokes and Mr. Warren insisted for decades that they were innocent, but it was not until 2024, long after they had been released from prison on parole, that a judge threw out the original indictments against them.
Mr. Smokes and Mr. Warren were cleared after Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, agreed that the convictions should be overturned. The men sued the city, and last March, the city agreed to pay Mr. Smokes $13 million and Mr. Warren $11.13 million, according to court records and the Legal Aid analysis.
The third-largest payment, $5.75 million, went to settle a suit filed by Kenneth Bacote, who in June 2020 said he had been assaulted by police officers. He accused the officers of blinding him in his left eye by striking him with a Taser. He sued the city and the police the next year.
Seventeen cases included in the Legal Aid analysis resulted in payments of over $1 million. The vast majority of payouts were for less, including $100,000 to a man who accused an officer of slamming his head against a metal locker in January, 2022, while he was handcuffed at a Brooklyn precinct.
Ms. Wong said even the smaller settlements were “egregious examples of what New Yorkers have allegedly endured at the hands of police while taxpayers remain on the hook for the resulting payouts.”
Maria Cramer is a Times reporter covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.
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