NYPD sued after dog and owner arrested for filming investigation

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Harvey the hound had a ruff time behind bars.

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That’s because the nine-year-old Yorkie and his owner were arrested for filming New York Police Department officers conducting a shoplifting investigation three years ago during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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And now the pup’s owner, Molly Griffard, is suing the NYPD for false arrest and imprisonment, and for “traumatizing” her dog by caging him for eight hours, reports Law360.

On May 3, 2020, the Legal Aid Society attorney said she went out for a walk with Harvey in the city’s Bedford–Stuyvesant neighbourhood.

At the beginning of their walk, Griffard saw cops grabbing young Black men and putting them up against a wall. She said she took out her phone and began filming the incident from a safe distance while also informing the men about their right to remain silent and their right to an attorney.

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“At that point one of the officers started pushing me back,” Griffard told the New York Daily News a week after her arrest. “I understand that, when cop-watching, you do need to keep distance. I was leaving plenty of space both for health reasons and for knowing that’s the safe way to cop-watch.”

She said she complied with an order to go across the street. She also took down licence plates of NYPD vehicles and asked the officer she claims pushed her for his business card.

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Under the city’s Right to Know Act, citizens can ask for identification from police officers.

“When I asked him for his business card, he refused,” Griffard said. “He again pushed me back. I asked for his business card again and that’s when he turned me around and handcuffed me and arrested me,” she said.

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A police spokesperson at the time said none of the men were arrested during the investigation.

She was taken to a precinct and charged with obstruction of government administration. Cops separated her and the dog, and refused to answer where they were holding her pet and how he was doing after she asked numerous times.

Griffard was released around 1 a.m. the next day and was given an August 2020 court date. Charges were dropped before her first court appearance.

Griffard said she is suing because she wants police to follow the law.

“We have a right to record the police in New York City, and a right to know who those police are,” she told local online news outlet Hell Gate. “No one should be retaliated against for exercising their rights.”