THE NYPD SHELLS OUT $150,000 FOR ILLEGAL STOP & FRISK IN THE PROJECTS! THEY TARGET YOUNG BLACK & HISPANIC MALES!

The NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk practice inside public housing has led to nine recent settlements, the Daily News has learned.

In February, the city agreed to shell out more than $150,000 to nine of 16 plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming they were illegally stopped on Housing Authority property because they were black or Hispanic, court documents show.

"I'm happy with the settlement. I hope it does help, but actually, it's still happening," said Hector Suarez, 56, who will get $5,001.00, according to court papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

The settlements stem from a January 2010 lawsuit filed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rfkind, Wharton & Garrison.

The suit, which remains open, seeks an unspecified amount of money and to have stop and frisks declared unconstitutional.

Civil rights groups, like the New York Civil Liberties Union, have raised concerns that the practice leads to racial profiling, with minorities the target of most NYPD stops. Geneva Wilson, a plaintiff in the suit who lives in the Randolph Houses in Manhattan, said she is still shaken after her nephew, David Wilson, was arrested last year while trying to visit her.

She told the News that police never asked her if he belonged on the property.

"They never came up the stairs, they never even knocked," said Wilson, who accepted a $5,000 settlement. "I'm 80 years old. I don't go out all the time, I mostly stay home. My nephew is the one who comes and checks on me.

"I'm only two flights up, they could have hollered up the hallway and I would have heard them."

The city defended its policing of NYCHA houses.

"Many housing residents have repeatedly asked for help against crime in public housing and the city has taken numerous steps to work with residents," Law Department spokeswoman Connie Pankratz said Friday.

"Police officers assigned to public-housing developments try to provide safety for the low-income residents who live there that occupants of doormen buildings elsewhere take for granted," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.


SOURCE