NYPD Commish Ray Kelly said 'stop and frisk' intended to 'instill fear' in blacks and Latinos: Say Black State Sen. Eric Adams
"He stated that he targeted and focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that every time that they left their homes they could be targeted by police," Adams testifies.
Cops targeted blacks and Latinos as part of their “stop-and-frisk” policy to “instill fear in them,” NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted in a private meeting with lawmakers, a state Senator testified Monday.
State Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) testified in Manhattan Federal Court he “was shocked” when Kelly made the surprise statement during a 2010 meeting in then-Gov. David Paterson’s Manhattan office.
“He stated that he targeted and focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that every time that they left their homes they could be targeted by police,” Adams said under questioning by attorney Jonathan Moore, representing the plaintiffs in a class-action suit on the controversial practice.
“I told him that I believe it was illegal and that that was not what stop-and-frisk was supposed to be used for,” Adams said.
He said Kelly’s response was, “How else are we going to get rid of guns?”
The commissioner, barred from testifying in the case after city lawyers refused to schedule him for a deposition, said Adams’ testimony was a ploy to get him into court.
“I’m telling you it’s absolutely and categorically untrue,” said Kelly.
And others present in the room said Kelly spoke in general terms about policing high-crime areas, many of which happen to be heavily minority — a distinction at the heart of the high-profile civil rights case.
“That comment did not come out of his mouth,” State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) told the Daily News, referring to Adams’ testimony that Kelly said cops target certain minorities.
“He said the NYPD was targeting crime in high-crime neighborhoods and that many of these neighborhoods are predominantly minority.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) — then a state Assemblyman — said Kelly was talking about “a deterrence theory” in support of the aggressive stop-and-frisk activity in neighborhoods of color.
“The problem with deterrence is its completely unconstitutional in the absence of any individualized suspicion of criminal behavior,” Jeffries said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/senator-kelly-stop-frisk-instill-fear-blacks-latinos-article-1.1304763#ixzz2PJo4BzAP
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