Here in New York City, lawyers, plaintiffs and city officials held a press conference Thursday following the announcement the city will settle for $13 million with racial justice protesters who were brutalized by the New York police during the 2020 uprising that followed the murder of George Floyd. This is attorney Wylie Stecklow.

Wylie Stecklow: “Today’s settlement is historic, and I’m very proud that it will bring some sense of justice to nearly 1,400 people who took to the streets and put their bodies on the line against police brutality. But as a New York City taxpayer, I am bothered. The payout is a red flag, but we still have NYPD executive officers, like Chief of Patrol John Chell, Inspector Elias Nikas, leading unconstitutional protest policing in this city. Their example to the rest of the 35,000 members of service is that the Constitution does not apply simply when these high-ranking members of the service say so.”