DEM10/GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGESDick George spent only 45 minutes in police custody after being arrested for disorderly conduct, according to court papers. He didn't strike it as rich as the cops predicted, but a Brooklyn man has scored a $125,000 settlement of his federal lawsuit that said he was falsely arrested for recording a stop-and-frisk by police on his cellphone.
Dick George was sitting in his car in Flatbush on June 14, 2012, when he spotted three youths getting searched.
He whipped out his cellphone and began taking pictures.
After the cops were done, George advised the youths to get the cops’ badge numbers next time.
The cops overheard his remark and violently pulled George out of his car, court papers stated.
“Now we’re going to give you what you deserve for meddling in our business and when we finish with you, you can sue the city for $5 million and get rich, we don’t care,” Lt. Dennis Ferber said, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
George was charged with disorderly conduct and only spent 45 minutes in custody, but he said he suffered a torn meniscus of his knee while being arrested.
The cops allegedly deleted the pictures George had snapped of them.
“After a thorough review of the case facts, it was in the best interest of all to resolve this matter without costly litigation and trial,” city lawyer Brian Francolla said in a statement.
In the wake of the phone video of Eric Garner’s fatal chokehold last month, the NYPD last month issued a memo reminding the entire force of the public’s right to record their activities on the street.
Ferber and co-defendants Sgt. Patrick Golden and Officer Stacey Robinson have been sued in six other federal cases.
