NYC Mayor Bloomberg has agreed yesterday to destroy a database full of personal information regarding individuals who were stopped by police and authorities. In a settlement, a lead plaintiff, freelance journalist Daryl Khan will be paid $10,000. The associate legal director of the NY Civil Liberties Union and the case’s lead counsel, Christopher Dunn commented that hundreds of thousands of names will be erased from the NYPD database as a result of the settlement.
The case, Lino v. City of New York focused on two named plaintiffs, Clive Lino and Daryl Khan. Mr. Lino claimed he was stopped at least 13 times, was thrown against a wall and frisked, and issued a summons for spitting in public and possessing an open container, according to newyorklawjournal.com. Mr. Khan was accused of riding his bicycle on a sidewalk and disorderly conduct. The charges had been dismissed, but the two plaintiffs’ names were in the NYPD’s database.
In 2010, then-Governor David Paterson stopped the NYPD from keeping stop and frisk records when the individual who had been stopped was “let go without an arrest or summons.” However for people who were arrested or who had received a summons, the data was kept on file, as the legislation did not bar the NYPD from retaining that information. The NY Civil Liberties Union brought a class action against the city, and the Bloomberg administration settled. Within 90 days the city will delete the personal and private addresses and names and information of all people who had been questioned, stopped or frisked.