NYC to pay $750,000 to woman who was shackled during labor
A woman who says she was shackled by police for hours while in active labor has settled a lawsuit against New York City for $750,000, her lawyers announced Thursday.
The woman, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, was arrested for a minor charge in 2018 when she was more than 40 weeks pregnant, she said in the suit filed in Brooklyn federal court. She was handcuffed and shackled during labor and after she gave birth to her son, according to the lawsuit filed by The Legal Aid Society and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.
“Shackling pregnant people is a dehumanizing and pointless practice that has no place in New York City,” Anne Oredeko, supervising attorney of the racial justice unit at The Legal Aid Society, said in a news release announcing the settlement.