A-list lawyer to rep PBA in fight with city
A CONTENTIOUS case over NYPD surveillance of Black Lives Matter protesters has sunk to a new low: The latest filing in the case reads, “EAT ME C---SUCKRE.”
The mistaken inclusion of the vulgarity by David Thompson, a lawyer for protester James Logue, was contained in the file name for legal papers he submitted ahead of arguments in Manhattan Supreme Court next week.
The all-capped, angry invective appears when the document is opened on the court's public efiling system.
“Oh s-t! That’s what happens when I get really mad late at night. Nothing I can do about it now,” Thompson told the Daily News.
“I had no idea you could see (that) — next time I’ll ‘Gosh darn it all to heck.’ ”
Thompson has been outspoken about his frustration with the NYPD’s refusal to turn over records on the surveillance of protesters in 2014 and 2015, going so far as to call the department “a professional lying organization.”
Justice Manuel Mendez held the NYPD in contempt in November for ignoring his orders to turn over certain records of cops’ monitoring of “die-ins” write, at Grand Central Terminal (photo) in the wake of the killing of Eric Garner. Despite the ruling, the NYPD is still dodging disclosure, Thompson wrote in his fiery new filing.
The department’s tactics were “symptomatic in microcosm of an NYPD that is diseased and hollow, but which unaccountably manages to project a shiny image of professionalism and competence to the world,” he wrote.
The NYPD had shown contempt for the state Legislature, Mendez and the people it serves, Thompson wrote, calling the department a “sociopathic agency.”
The Law Department and the NYPD did not comment.
Thompson said his beef was with the police — not with his adversary in the Law Department litigating the case on the city’s behalf.
“A lot of my legal writing comes from a place of frustration,” he added. THE CITY’S largest police union is armed with a big gun for its contract beef with the city.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association announced Wednesday it’ll be represented by veteran negotiator Kenneth Feinberg in an upcoming binding arbitration fight with City Hall.
“This choice is an extremely important one,” PBA President Pat Lynch said. “Probably one of the most important choices we make in this process.”
“We need an advocate in this process who has not only broad shoulders and a sharp legal mind, but also a human understanding of what’s at stake for police officers, our families and our city,” he said.
Feinberg, widely recognized as a master negotiator, served as Special Master for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, and was hired by Penn State University in 2012 to settle dozens of personal injury claims stemming from the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Feinberg will be part of a threeperson state arbitration panel representing the PBA in upcoming negotiations, which could take about a year to complete.