Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption, misconduct, and other allegations of such, have occurred. Over 12,000 cases have resulted in lawsuit settlements totaling over $400 million during a five-year period ending in 2014. In 2019, taxpayers funded $68,688,423 as the cost of misconduct lawsuits, a 76 percent increase over the previous year, including about $10 million paid out to two exonerated individuals who had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.
Criminal justice advocates report that public access to information about NYPD misconduct is increasingly constrained, particularly due to the department's controversial 2016 reinterpretation of section 50-a of the New York Civil Rights Law. In June 2020, the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act was passed, which repealed 50-a and made the use of certain restraints by police anywhere in the state of New York punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Single-victim misconduct allegations
Arrest of Frank Lino
In 1962, the Bonanno crime family mobster Frank Lino was arrested for his alleged involvement in the shootings of two Brooklyn police detectives. The detectives, aged 28 and 56, were shot dead during a holdup of a tobacco store in Gravesend, Brooklyn, where Lino and two others netted $5,000. Lino was charged with the murders after supplying a getaway vehicle for one of the "stick-up men" so that he could then flee to Chicago. Lino was one of the five men charged after being taken to the 66th Precinct for an interrogation. During Lino's interrogation, he claimed that police officers drove staples into his hands and a broomstick up his rectum. He alleged that the abuse resulted in a broken leg and arm. Lino was later released with three years probation after he threatened to sue the city for police brutality. He also claimed that the uncontrollable blinking of his eyes was a direct result of the alleged beating.
Shooting of Clifford Glover
On April 28, 1973, Officer Thomas Shea shot 10-year-old Clifford Glover while in South Jamaica, Queens, thinking Glover had a gun. On June 12, 1974, Shea was acquitted of wrongdoing by 11 white and one black jurors but was fired from the NYPD that year.
Beating death of Israel Rodriguez
On June 13, 1975, Officer Thomas Ryan arrested Israel Rodriguez on attempted murder charges, when Rodriguez fired through his door at Ryan. Rodriguez mistook Ryan for Luis Santiago. Santiago and three others had held Rodriguez and beat him on the roof of his building forcing Rodriguez to hand over his stash of narcotics. After arriving at the scene, in response to being called about a burglary, Officers Ryan and Brown arrested Santiago and three who were armed and in possession of narcotics. Ryan asked Santiago where they had come from and Santiago had directed Ryan to Rodriguez's apartment. Ryan then took Santiago to Rodriguez's door and ordered him to knock on the door. When Rodriguez saw Santiago he fired through the door, thinking that Santiago had returned to do him additional harm. Ryan entered Rodriguez's apartment, subdued him, and placed him under arrest. After confiscating narcotics from the apartments, Rodriguez and Santiago were both beaten before being transported to the 44th Precinct. Rodriguez subsequently died from injuries sustained during the beatings. In 1977, Ryan was convicted of criminally negligent homicide. In 1979, Ryan jumped bail on the day he was to begin serving his sentence and remained at large until 1981 when he turned himself over to Queens' district attorney.
Shooting of Randolph Evans
On November 25, 1976, Officer Robert Torsney shot Randolph Evans to death while responding to a call at Evans's home, a Brooklyn housing project. Torsney was found not guilty by insanity defense (automatism of Penfield epilepsy) in 1977 and was committed to Queens Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital until July 1979 when state reviewers declared him no longer a threat to himself or society and released him, although he was still denied a disability pension.