New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued the New York Police Department, accusing police officers of widespread abuses against peaceful racial justice protesters last year. This is the first time in history a state attorney general has sued a police department. This is James speaking at a press conference Thursday.

Attorney General Letitia James: “We found that over the course of the protests from May to December of 2020, NYPD officers engaged in blatant use of excessive force and often misconduct, including the indiscriminate, unjustified and repeated use of batons, pepper spray, bicycles and a crowd control tactic known as kettling, also referred to as containment, which caused significant physical harm. We also found that NYPD officers unlawfully detained and arrested legal observers, medics and other essential workers performing services.”

This comes as new data show police are three times more likely to use force against leftist and progressive protesters than right-wing rioters.