The city’s legal tab, if the
Central Park deal is approved, would hit $101 million this year, compared to
$96.3 million for all of 2013. But some lawyers say the high numbers don’t
necessarily indicate a trend.
BY JOHN MARZULLI
It's already been a very
expensive year.
The $40 million Central Park
Five settlement would boost 2014 city payouts in police misconduct and civil
rights suits past last year’s total. And there’s still six months to go.
The legal tab, if the Central
Park deal is approved, would hit $101 million this year, compared to $96.3
million for all of 2013, according to figures provided to the Daily News from
City Controller Scott Stringer’s office.
Taxpayers shelled out $106.6
million in 2012 and $106.8 million in 2011 to settle NYPD misconduct and civil
rights cases, the controller’s figures showed.
“This should be a wakeup call
to the de Blasio administration that they have to do something about police
misconduct that’s costing taxpayers an outrageous amount of money,” said civil
rights lawyer Sanford Rubenstein.