CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY TAXPAYERS in 2025 had to pay more than $117.3 million in legal penalties following allegations of misconduct by members of the New York City Police Department, the Legal Aid Society said Monday in a release, calling for more accountability. Legal Aid analyzed data provided by the city Law Department, mandated under a law passed during the de Blasio administration. There were just over a thousand successful lawsuits filed in 2025.
According to the data, over the last seven years, taxpayers paid out a whopping $796.2 million to more than 6,760 successful litigants. The figures don’t include lawsuits that were settled with the city before going through the full legal process.
As an example, Legal Aid cited the case of litigant Ismail Abraham, who was detained and taken to a Brooklyn police precinct for questioning in 2022. According to a civil lawsuit Abraham filed and won, an officer allegedly struck his head against a metal locker while he was in handcuffs, leaving him injured. Abraham received $100,000.
“When meaningful accountability is absent, it reinforces a culture of impunity within the NYPD and further erodes trust among the communities the department is meant to protect and serve,” said Jennvine Wong, supervising attorney with the Cop Accountability Project at the Legal Aid Society.
