NYC NOW - May 19, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Jordan Neely, the man killed with a chokehold on the F train this month, is being remembered at a funeral today in Harlem, New York City is shutting down a key migrant welcome center inside the Port Authority bus terminal, and in sports news, it's opening night for the New York Liberty, who start the new season in Washington DC against the Mystics. Finally, a recent investigation by Newsday finds the Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk have paid more than $165 million dollars to settle lawsuits over police and prosecutorial misconduct since 2000. The investigation includes cases alleging excessive force, false imprisonment and wrongful death. WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with Thomas Maier from Newsday, who reported the story.

NYC now. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, May 19th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Jordan Neely is being remembered at her funeral today in Harlem. The Reverend Al Sharped and eulogized Neely killed with a chokehold on the F train this month by another writer Daniel Penny, now charged with manslaughter. Sharpton criticized the NYPD for initially releasing Penny, saying if Penny were black, he would have been held in jail.

He also said social service agencies failed Neely who was homeless and mentally ill. We keep criminalizing people with mental illness. People keep criminalizing. People that need help. They don't need abuse. They need help. Nearly was 30 years old. New York City is shutting down a key migrant welcome center inside the Port Authority bus terminal. New arrivals now will have to go to an intake operation at the nearby Roosevelt Hotel.

Volunteer groups say the city is excluding them after they've staffed the Port Authority hub for the past nine months. The groups say they have filled in the gaps in the city's social safety net by offering food, clothes, and even legal guidance. They're now looking for a new central location. It's opening night for the New York Liberty, tipping off the new season in D.C. against the Mystics. The Libs had an unprecedented offseason, acquiring not one, not two, but three superstars. Their first home game at Berkeley Center takes place on Sunday. 67 now with the mix of sun and clouds, mostly sunny today in a high of 68. We have a chance of overnight showers.

We drop down to 58. And then tomorrow's Saturday, showers in the morning, a high near 69. Sunday looks like the best day of the week, mostly sunny and 77. A recent investigation by Newsday finds the Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk have paid more than $165 million to settle lawsuits over police and prosecutorial misconduct since 2000. The investigation reports that includes cases alleging excessive force, false imprisonment, and wrongful death. And that's just what it's costing taxpayers. There's also a human cost.

Joining us now is Thomas Mayer, who reported this story for Newsday. Thomas, thank you for joining us and good morning. Thank you for inviting me. You're welcome. You found that over the past two decades, lawsuits and payouts claiming law enforcement wrongdoing on Long Island have soared. Why is that? Well, I think it's a variety of measures.

I think there's more attention that's paid to allegations against police and prosecutors. There have been efforts in Suffolk County, and to some extent in Nassau, where the district attorneys have set up conviction integrity bureaus. And those bureaus have found cases of wrongdoing in which convictions have been overturned, and so therefore they wind up in fairly sizable settlements by plaintiffs who have spent, at times, many years in jail for wrongful convictions. Aside from the monetary cause of misconduct, you look at the human cause.

Your reporting highlights the 1974 conviction of Keith Bush, who was later exonerated, as you mentioned, in 2019. Tell us his story briefly. Keith Bush was 17 years old. He was accused of murdering a schoolmate in Bellport that's on the eastern end of Long Island. And it turns out that the police actually had another suspect who admitted to the police that he, He had been at the scene of the murder, had tripped over the body of the deceased, and yet that information, because they had already arrested Keith Bush, that information was never disclosed. We've only became aware of that in the last few years.

And Keith Bush spent ultimately 33 years in jail. And we did a big documentary at Newsday. When you get to know somebody as we did, in the case. of Keith Bush, you understand the monstrosity of what it's like to be falsely accused and to have the bulk of your adult life spent behind bars. Wow. Suffolk County Executive Steve Boulon has called the payouts a corruption tax. Are county officials doing anything to fix the systemic problems within law enforcement that have triggered these lawsuits in the first place? Well, I think they've actually, from what I can see, are doing less than they did even 40 years.

ago. When I began at Tuesday, did a five-part series about the Suffolk Police, about abuses in terms of their prosecution of murder cases. They had a very high confession rate. And there were hearings by the county legislature at that time. I know in some of these more recent cases, even in the Bush case, there really isn't a uniform way in which some of the committees and within the county legislatures and both counties really have examined, well, we're paying out all this month. for these cases, what really systemically went wrong? Is there any way that we can address it? Are the legislators keeping track of how many misconduct cases the county settled? If so, are the findings being made available to the public?

The legislatures, from what I see, they are aware on a fiscal level of every time they sign off on a check. Sometimes it's enclosed doors. It has been in the past. I know that the county executive in Suffolk, Bologne, mentioned that. There was not a lot of transparency about that. So in terms of getting a grip on the total amount of money, we again mentioned $165 million that have been paid out on Long Island since 2000. That's not been looked at in an organized way. Thomas Mayer reported his story for Newsday.

He now sits on the editorial board. Thomas, thanks so much for this. Thank you so much, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now. from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day,

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