City files to appeal stop-and-frisk ruling

The city has filed to appeal U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin’s ruling that the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional.

The appeal comes after Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed his dislike for the decision on Monday and promised the city would fight the ruling in the case of Floyd vs City of New York. The appeal was filed electronically Friday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which will send the appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We have moved ahead with our formal filings,” said Michael Cardozo, Corporation Counsel. “The mayor, the police commissioner and the city vowed to press forward immediately with an appeal — and we have done so. The safety of all New Yorkers is at stake.”

Minorities groups and some politicians have been fighting the policy, saying that stop-and-frisk is unfairly used against black and Hispanics. They have since applauded Schedindlin’s ruling and denounced the decision to appeal it.

“The overuse and abuse of stop-and-frisk is driving police and communities apart instead of making our city safer,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to appeal the federal court’s ruling is wrong and deeply misguided.”

In Scheindlin’s decision on Monday she suggested reforms to stop-and-frisk. She appointed lawyer Peter Zimroth to monitor the NYPD and ordered that officers wear body cameras.

“I find that the city is liable for violating plaintiffs’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights,” Scheindlin wrote. “The city acted with deliberate indifference toward the NYPD’s practice of making unconstitutional stops and conducting unconstitutional frisks.”

During a press conference after Scheindlin’s decision, Bloomberg said that the judge’s ruling was unfair.

“Throughout the trail that just concluded the judge made it clear that she was not at all interested in the crime reductions here [(in the city] or how we achieved them,” Bloomberg said. “Through the case we didn’t believe that we were getting a fair trial and this decision confirms that suspicion,” he later added.

The city is going to request a “stay” before Scheindlin, to postpone her judgement during the appeals process.

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