A City Councilmember who was roughed up and wrongfully arrested when police cleared the Occupy Wall Street camp in 2011 has been awarded a $30K settlement.
Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the NYPD and the Bloomberg administration back in 2012, a few months after cops arrested him on the night of the Zuccotti Park eviction.
Cops initially alleged that Rodriguez shoved a female officer and resisted arrest, but the Manhattan DA's office declined to prosecute him. He, along with then-Councilmembers Letitia James and Melissa Mark-Viverito and current Councilmember Jumaane Williams all sued the NYPD and city for violating First Amendment rights and using excessive force. The lawsuit also alleged that TIME Magazine removed a photograph of Rodriguez being held to the ground by cops after being put under pressure to do so by the Bloomberg administration.
Rodriguez, who declined to comment today, settled the case yesterday for $30K, an amount his lawyer says he will donate to charity. Two other plaintiffs on the suit, protestors Jeffery McClain and Yonatan Miller, settled for the respective amounts of $70,000 and $1,500.
