In 2016, Jose LaSalle was arrested after recording a video of cops who were stopping and frisking two men. LaSalle is a longtime police accountability activist and the founder of a police accountability organization, the South Bronx Copwatch Patrol Unit.
In a recording provided by LaSalle, cops can be heard cheering and accusing him of having committed a felony. Cops claimed he had a police scanner and said that they should charge him for having a gun. LaSalle was released, only to be re-arrested by cops hours later for filming them again.
The Bronx district attorney dropped all charges against LaSalle, and his lawyer reported that the city and the NYPD have agreed to pay LaSalle $860,000 after the false arrest, imprisonment, and conspiracy accusations.
The city settled a second lawsuit with LaSalle, that was for $65,000. So in total, the city settled with LaSalle for $925,000 in one month for multiple wrongful arrests. LaSalle said he is asking that the US Justice Department investigate the case, because the cops involved were not charged or disciplined in any way.
LaSalle has been filming cops since 2011 to document misconduct. He vowed the Copwatch Patrol Unit will continue to legally record police actions.
Photo: “The Other Side of the Fence” by Adam B is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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