NYC Awards $45,000 to Woman Who Says She Was Arrested for Rejecting Cop's Advances
In addition, the charges against her were dropped.
Image via Complex Original
The city of New York has given a young woman $45,000 worth of settlement money after an NYPD officer allegedly arrested her because she rejected his advances.
Bronx resident Natalie Erlich filed a lawsuit against the city following the Nov. 2013 incident. Erlich, who was 17 at the time, said Officer José Peinan—who was off-duty at the time—and another officer approach and attempted to flirt with her:
He said something slick like, Where are you going? she added. I said, I’m going home.
When Erlich asked if he was a cop, he replied, Maybe. She then told him that’s a cop answer.
Seconds later, a van pulled up and four more officers got out. That’s when Peinan ordered them to cuff her, she claimed.
He said she blew his cover, Erlich’s mother said.
Erlich said that when she asked why she was being arrested, Peinan responded, You know why — you’re being a smartass.
Erlich, now 19, told the Post that she and friend Marie Gonzalez were taken to the 52nd Precinct station house, where they were not released until the following morning—19 hours later. In the lawsuit, she alleges that Peinan arrested her because she shot him down, and also claimed that a male officer groped her breasts as he was frisking her.
In addition to Erlich being awarded the money, the charges against she and Gonzalez were dropped.
[via New York Post]
