NYC Settles Suit for $225,000: NYPD Punch Black Woman in Face after Bogus Stop & Frisk

From [HERE] The city has paid $225,000 to a young woman whose jaw was broken by an NYPD cop after she called him a "rookie" when he prepared to arrest her for riding her bike on the sidewalk, the Daily News has learned. The settlement came last week as a jury was about to be empaneled in Jessica Williams’ civil suit charging Officer Desmond Nichols for using excessive force in the 2008 incident.

According to Williams, the then-17-year-old was stopped by Nichols for riding on a sidewalk in Bedford-Stuyvesant — but the routine stop quickly took a violent turn. The officer asked Williams for ID, but she said she didn’t have any. That’s when she complained that Nichols was only hassling her because he was “a rookie.” In a pre-trial deposition, Nichols said that he decided to arrest Williams after she disparaged him as a “rookie.” He ordered her to put her hands behind her back, but claimed that she cocked her elbow as if she was going to strike him.

The officer said he acted in self-defense, hitting Williams in the jaw with a force that he described as “lightly medium.” Regardless of his definition of the blow, it was enough to bloody Nichols’ mouth and break her jaw, which had to be wired shut. She spent eight days in a hospital, handcuffed to the bed, court records show. "I still don't understand why he did it and why they still allow him to be on the police force," Williams told The News.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes did not charge Williams with resisting arrest.

"[This] assault should never have happened," said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein. "The problem of police brutality in this city must be addressed by not only paying appropriate damages to the victims, but also disciplining the officers who engage in such outrageous conduct."

NYPD Internal Affairs investigated Nichols, but he was not disciplined. The cop was transferred to the Bronx but insisted the move was not related to the incident.

When The News called Nichols for a comment about the settlement, he said only, "Is this a prank?" before hanging up.

Williams has moved upstate where she plans to study business administration at Hudson Valley Community College.

A spokeswoman for the Law Department said it was determined that the settlement was in the best interest of all parties.