Crash Data
NYC Paid $117M for Police Misconduct in 2025
1,044 lawsuits settled. $800M in NYPD payouts since 2019. Wrongful convictions, excessive force, warrantless entry. The full data breakdown.
Key Finding
NYC taxpayers paid $117 million to settle 1,044 police misconduct lawsuits in 2025. Since 2019, NYPD settlements have totaled nearly $800 million. Wrongful convictions drove about $42 million, roughly 36% of the 2025 total. Qualified immunity reform bills remain stalled in Albany.
Key Facts
NYC paid $117,251,230.82 to settle 1,044 police misconduct lawsuits in 2025. Fourth consecutive year above $100M.
Since 2019, NYPD misconduct settlements have totaled nearly $800 million ($796.2M across 6,766 lawsuits).
2024 was the record year at $206.5 million in payouts, driven by several large wrongful conviction cases.
Wrongful conviction cases accounted for about $42 million, roughly 36% of the 2025 total. The money comes from the city’s general fund, not the NYPD budget.
New York City paid $117,251,230.82 to settle 1,044 police misconduct lawsuits in 2025. That is the fourth consecutive year payouts exceeded $100 million.
$800M
Total NYPD misconduct settlements since 2019. NYC paid $117M in 2025 alone across 1,044 lawsuits. The money comes from the city's general fund, not the NYPD budget.
Legal Aid Society Cop Accountability Project, 2025 Annual Analysis
Since 2019, NYPD misconduct settlements have totaled nearly $800 million. The money comes from the city’s general fund. Not from the NYPD budget. Not from the officers involved. From taxpayers.
Seven Years of Payouts
The Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project tracks NYPD settlement data annually. Their analysis shows a pattern that has not broken.
| Year | Total payouts | Lawsuits settled |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $71,723,243 | 1,276 |
| 2020 | $62,103,992 | 929 |
| 2021 | $87,405,727 | 753 |
| 2022 | $135,404,617 | 973 |
| 2023 | $115,852,781 | 811 |
| 2024 | $206,472,257 | 980 |
| 2025 | $117,251,231 | 1,044 |
| Total | $796,213,847 | 6,766 |
The 2024 spike to $206 million included several large wrongful conviction payouts. The 2025 figure is lower but still represents the fourth consecutive year above $100 million.
At 1,044, the number of lawsuits settled in 2025 is the highest since 2019, when 1,276 were resolved.
Where the Money Went
Wrongful conviction cases dominated the 2025 payouts, accounting for about $42 million, roughly 36% of the total. Another $28 million, nearly a quarter of the total, went to incidents that happened more than two decades ago.
Eric Smokes: $13 Million
$13M
Settlement: Wrongful Conviction
Eric Smokes was wrongfully convicted of murder in the fatal New Year's Day 1987 robbery of French tourist Jean Casse, 71, near Times Square. He served 24 years in prison before his release in 2011. The Manhattan DA's office moved to vacate his conviction in January 2024.
Theory: 42 U.S.C. § 1983, fabrication of evidence
Reported New York case, not a case this firm handled.
David Warren: $11.1 Million
$11.1M
Settlement: Wrongful Conviction
Co-defendant with Smokes in the same 1987 murder case. Served 20 years. Released in 2007. Combined payout with Smokes: $24.1 million for a killing they did not commit.
Theory: 42 U.S.C. § 1983, fabrication of evidence
Reported New York case, not a case this firm handled.
Steven Lopez: $3.9 Million
$3.9M
Settlement: Wrongful Conviction
The sixth defendant connected to the 1989 Central Park jogger case. Pleaded guilty to robbery in 1991 to avoid more serious charges. Conviction overturned in July 2022. The other five defendants (Exonerated Five) received $41 million in 2014.
Theory: 42 U.S.C. § 1983, malicious prosecution
Reported New York case, not a case this firm handled.
Nine People Framed by Two Officers: $5.2 Million Combined
Two NYPD officers were later convicted of falsifying testimony and paperwork in cases from 2014 to 2016.
Other significant 2025 settlements:
| Case | Amount |
|---|---|
| Man blinded in one eye by police stun gun | $5,750,000 |
| Brigid Pierce: TBI from assault during Brooklyn protest | $2,000,000+ |
| Cheyenne Lee: warrantless entry, false arrest (Bronx) | $125,000 |
The Cheyenne Lee case is worth examining. Nine officers from the 42nd Precinct entered her Bronx home without a warrant, arrested her teenage nephew, then arrested her when she protested. The city paid $125,000 to settle.
The Bigger Picture: City Tort Claims
NYPD settlements are the largest single category in the city’s annual claims liability.
The NYC Comptroller’s Annual Claims Report reported that the city paid $1.94 billion in total injury and tort claims in fiscal year 2024. That is a record, and a 29.3% increase over the prior year.
| Agency | FY 2024 payouts |
|---|---|
| NYPD | $309.56 million |
| Dept. of Correction | $252.87 million |
| Dept. of Education | $128.07 million |
| Dept. of Transportation | $115.27 million |
| Health + Hospitals | $45.77 million |
NYPD claims filed in FY 2024: 9,249. That is a 31.8% increase from 7,017 in FY 2023.
The Legal Framework
Most police misconduct lawsuits in New York are filed under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, the federal civil rights statute enacted in 1871. It allows people to sue government officials who deprive them of constitutional rights while acting under color of law.
42 U.S.C. § 1988 provides for attorney’s fees in successful civil rights actions, which is why firms take these cases.
Common Section 1983 claims against the NYPD include:
- Excessive force(Fourth Amendment): officers using more force than reasonably necessary, per the standard in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)
- False arrest: seizure without probable cause or a warrant
- Unlawful search: entering a home or searching a person without legal authority
- Malicious prosecution: pursuing criminal charges without probable cause
- Failure to intervene: officers who witness misconduct and do nothing
- Fabrication of evidence: manufacturing or manipulating evidence to secure convictions
- Monell claims: municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) when the city’s own policy or custom caused the violation
The Eric Smokes and David Warren cases illustrate the fabrication category. Officers manufactured evidence that sent two men to prison for murder, a combined 44 years behind bars for a killing they did not commit. The city paid $24.1 million.
Qualified Immunity: The Barrier
Qualified immunity is the primary legal obstacle in police misconduct cases. The doctrine shields government officials from civil lawsuits unless they violated a “clearly established” constitutional right.
In practice, this means an officer can use excessive force and avoid liability if no prior court decision addressed the specific circumstances of their conduct. The standard does not ask whether the officer’s actions were constitutional. It asks whether existing case law put the officer on notice.
Note
Two reform bills were introduced in the New York State Legislature in 2025. Senate Bill S1950 prohibits qualified immunity for public officials. Senate Bill S176 adds a new section to the Civil Rights Law ending the qualified immunity defense.
Neither has passed as of March 2026. The NYC Bar Association reissued its report backing reform in April 2025.
Body Camera Accountability
Body cameras were supposed to increase accountability. The data on that is mixed.
A NYC Comptroller audit in October 2025 found that the NYPD is non-compliant with Freedom of Information Law obligations for body camera footage. Of 355 appeals of denied footage requests between 2020 and 2024, 344 were granted, a 97% reversal rate. The NYPD systematically denies initial requests.
A CUNY ISLG study in December 2025 examined 2022 footage and found that 19% of reported stops were unconstitutional. The court-appointed federal monitor overseeing NYPD stop-and-frisk practices found “significant discrepancies” between the department’s self-reported compliance rates and actual findings.
Stops are rising again: from 8,947 in 2021 to 25,386 in 2024, the highest count since 2014. NYPD supervisors rate the overwhelming majority of those stops as compliant. Independent review contradicts that self-assessment.
Repeat Offenders on the Force
The Legal Aid Society maintains the Law Enforcement Lookup database, containing more than 450,000 records of alleged officer misconduct.
Their analysis found officers with multiple lawsuits who remain on active duty. Pedro Rodriguez of Brooklyn ’s 72nd Precinct has been named in four lawsuits resulting in $12,050,000 in total payouts and has 19 allegations with 10 substantiated for abuse of authority. He is still on the force.
As the Legal Aid Society’s Jennvine Wong stated: “New Yorkers are once again paying the price for alleged police misconduct, and the numbers from the full 2025 calendar year make clear that this pattern continues.”
How NYC Compares
A FiveThirtyEight analysis of 31 major U.S. cities found NYC’s police misconduct payouts far exceed any other city.
| City | 10-year total | Annual average |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | $1.7 billion | $170.4 million |
| Chicago | $467.6 million | $46.8 million |
| Los Angeles | $329.9 million | $33.0 million |
Chicago’s payouts surged in 2025, exceeding $204 million for wrongful convictions alone. A single September 2025 settlement reached $90 million. But even at those elevated levels, NYC’s payouts dwarf every other city.
Per capita, NYC taxpayers paid approximately $14.12 per resident for NYPD misconduct settlements in 2025. Over seven years, the cumulative cost: $95.93 per resident.
What This Means
The $117 million represents cases that settled. It does not capture open cases, cases dismissed on qualified immunity grounds, or the legal defense costs the city incurs fighting these claims through its Law Department.
NYPD’s FY 2026 budget is $6.15 billion. Misconduct settlements represent roughly 2% of that. But the settlements come from the city’s general fund, not the police budget, which means the department bears no direct financial consequence for officer behavior.
Note
The statute of limitations for a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim in New York is three years from the date of the incident, borrowed from New York’s general personal-injury statute, CPLR § 214(5) , per the federal borrowing doctrine and Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989).
Claims against the city also require a Notice of Claim filed within 90 days under General Municipal Law § 50-e. Missing the 90-day window can bar the claim entirely.
Sources
- Cornell Law School. 42 U.S.C. § 1983: Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1983
- Cornell Law School. 42 U.S.C. § 1988: Attorney's Fees in Civil Rights Actions. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1988
- Justia. Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/436/658/
- Justia. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/490/386/
- NYC Comptroller. (2025). NYPD Excessive Force Complaints Surged in Past 3 Years to Highest Since 2013. https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/nypd-excessive-force-complaints-surged-in-past-3-years-to-highest-since-2013-nyc-comptroller-report-finds/
- NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board. CCRB Annual and Bi-Annual Reports. https://www.nyc.gov/site/ccrb/policy/annual-bi-annual-reports.page
- NY State Senate. (2025). Senate Bill S176: Ending the Defense of Qualified Immunity. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S176
- NY State Senate. (2025). Senate Bill S1950: Prohibits Qualified Immunity for Public Officials. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S1950
- Legal Aid Society. (2026). NYPD Misconduct Cost Taxpayers $117 Million in 2025. https://legalaidnyc.org/news/nypd-misconduct-cost-taxpayers-117-million-2025/
- NY Senate. General Municipal Law § 50-e: 90-Day Notice of Claim. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GMU/50-E
- NY Senate. CPLR § 214(5): Three-Year Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Actions. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/214
- Justia. Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/488/235/
Updated June 14, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How much did NYC pay in NYPD misconduct settlements in 2025?
NYC paid $117,251,230.82 to settle 1,044 police misconduct lawsuits in 2025, according to the Legal Aid Society's Cop Accountability Project. This was the fourth consecutive year payouts exceeded $100 million. Since 2019, total NYPD misconduct settlements have reached nearly $800 million.
- Can you sue the NYPD for misconduct in New York?
Yes. Under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, you can sue police officers who violate your constitutional rights while acting under color of law. This covers excessive force, false arrest, unlawful search, malicious prosecution, and failure to intervene. NYC paid $309.56 million in NYPD-related claims in fiscal year 2024.
- What is qualified immunity for police officers?
Qualified immunity shields government officials from civil lawsuits unless they violated a clearly established constitutional right. It is the primary barrier to police accountability in federal court. New York State legislators have introduced reform bills (S1950 and S176 in 2025), but neither has passed as of March 2026.
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Antin, J. S. (2026, March 17). NYC Paid $117M for Police Misconduct in 2025. AEE Law Insights. https://aeelaw.com/insights/nypd-misconduct-settlements-2025/
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