Sow, et al. v. City of New York, et al.

During the George Floyd protests of 2020, civil rights demonstrators in New York City took to the streets to protest police brutality. The NYPD responded with widespread use of force. In response, the National Lawyers Guild filed a class action lawsuit against the City of New York. As part of court proceedings, the NYPD produced over 6,000 video assets through discovery. These materials were used as evidence to identify four categories of constitutional violations: improper use of batons, improper use of pepper spray, excessive force, and kettling.

As part of the investigative team, my focus was on kettling, a crowd control tactic in which police surround protestors to restrict movement. The NYPD denied employing this tactic. However, video evidence demonstrated not only its use, but its central role in key protests across the city.

Helicopter footage from two separate protests - Mott Haven in the Bronx and the Manhattan Bridge - clearly captures NYPD formations surrounding and containing groups of protestors under the supervision of “White Shirt” commanding officers. This was further corroborated by ground-level footage in which protestors can be heard stating that they are unable to escape.

Four additional kettling events lacked aerial footage, requiring a different investigative approach. For each event, hundreds of videos from the discovery materials were reviewed, and selected clips were mapped in both space and time to construct detailed case files.

To establish temporal context, footage was assembled into synchronized four-channel presentations, allowing multiple angles of a single event to be viewed simultaneously. To establish spatial context, a digital twin of the city was created to position each video clip within the built environment.

Together, these materials revealed how officers coordinated their formations, exploited the built environment, and eliminated exit routes to confine and kettle protestors.

The NYPD settled out of court.