NYPD targets Black, Hispanic drivers for stops, federal lawsuit alleges

NYPD officers, particularly those involved in specialized anti-crime units, engage in unlawful vehicle searches that disproportionately target Black and Latino drivers, according to a federal lawsuit announced Thursday by an affiliate of the NAACP and civil liberty attorneys.

The NAACP New York State Conference filed the lawsuit on behalf of two men who allege they were targeted because of their race. The suit was filed in the same Manhattan federal district court where a 2013 decision found the NYPD engaged in unconstitutional stop and frisks.

"What we are seeing now is stop and frisk on wheels, the routine and discriminatory stopping of Black and brown drivers by the NYPD," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, at a news conference at the organization's Manhattan headquarters to announce the litigation.

According to the 46-page complaint, a dramatic increase in vehicle stops and searches began under the administration of former Mayor Eric Adams as a way of getting illegal firearms off the streets. Acting under such pressure, officers targeted "Black and Latino drivers under the racist assumption that they might be carrying firearms," the complaint stated, adding 96% of those searches did not result in an arrest for weapons possession.

Using statistics based on NYPD data, the lawsuit alleges Black and Latino drivers were subject to more than 84% of reported NYPD vehicle searches from 2022 through September 2025. Less than 4% of the searches involved white drivers, the lawsuit states. The disparity ranged across all city precincts, according to the complaint.

Blacks comprise 23% of the city population, whites 31.2% and Hispanics 29%,  according to NYPDonline.org.

The lawsuit names as defendants New York City, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Chief of Department Michael LiPetri, as well as a number of police officers, named and unnamed. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that the vehicle search policy violates the U.S. and New York State constitutions, an injunction against the policy and unspecified monetary damages, as well as attorneys’ fees.

In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson didn’t address the specifics of the complaint but referred to remarks made last June during a City Council hearing in which Joshua Levin, the NYPD director of legislative affairs, stated officers focus on high-crime areas.

"Any time you have more police officers in a certain area, as a result you are going to see more enforcement, you are going to see more car stops, you are going to see more searches." said Levin, adding at the June hearing that there are "many mechanisms " to help people who feel they are being targeted unlawfully.

Justin Cohen, 35, who is Black, one of the two named plaintiffs, recalled at the news conference how he was stopped in the Bronx the night of May 23, 2023, by police who searched his car and found nothing, although he received a speeding ticket. Cohen said he was handcuffed, brought to the local precinct, put in a holding cell and had to walk out of the building without shoes.

"I was treated not like a human being but like an animal," said Cohen, who noted the ticket was dismissed. 

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.