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Ithaca police, city issue legal response to racial pro7lingaccusationsNEWS (HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/CATEGORY/NEWS/), TOP(HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/CATEGORY/TOP/) / SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 / BY BENEDETTA LUCIANA SARACARNAGHI (HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/AUTHOR/BENEDETTA-LUCIANA-SARA-CARNAGHI/)
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ITHACA, N.Y. — The City of Ithaca, the Ithaca Police Department and an
Ithaca police sergeant have submitted a response to the lawsuit filed by the
mothers of two teenagers who say their sons were racially profiled in a
controversial incident (http://ithacavoice.com/category/story-database/sgt-
pulls-guns-on-teens/) on the night of August 9, 2014.
“The incident and damages alleged in the complaint were caused by the the
plaintiffs’ culpable conduct," states the defense filing, submitted earlier this
month in federal court, by the city and police department, "and the
defendants’ acts were privileged, justified, reasonable, without malice, and
were done in good faith, with reasonable suspicion, with probable cause,
and/or under exigent circumstances."
“The incident and damages alleged in the complaint were caused by the
culpable conduct of a third person or third persons over whom these
defendants had no control and for whose acts these defendants are not
responsible.”
The mothers’ $2 million lawsuit (http://ithacavoice.com/2015/08/new-
lawsuit-ithaca-police-racially-profiled-teens-in-2014-incident/) says that, on
that day, the two teenagers went to play basketball at Helen Newman Hall on
the Cornell Campus. At 10:15 pm, they left the gym with some friends and
rode their bicycles back towards Collegetown, down Buffalo Street, and then
biked to the house of one of the teens' mothers on Third Street.
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BupNbaKIIAAJRdo.jpg?
468fb8)A police sergeant pulled his weapon on two unarmed minority teens one night in August 2014, the same night of a car fire shown above.
That decision is now at the heart of a $2 million civil lawsuit against the city and IPD. (Provided photo)
According to the lawsuit, during this biking trip Ithaca police Sgt. John
Norman “racially profiled” the boys and “proceeded to treat them as
suspects” in two arsons they had not committed. The children tried to get
away from the officer – who appeared to them an unidentified man in an
unmarked Volvo — but Norman exited his vehicle and pulled his gun on them,
telling them to lay down on the ground, according to the lawsuit.
While the boys complied, at least four other Ithaca police officers arrived on
the scene and handcuffed them. When the boys’ mothers arrived, they found
their children “on the ground, crying, with their hands handcuffed behind
their backs," the complaint states.
The incident set off a wave of protests at City Hall and led Mayor Svante
Myrick to propose a series (http://ithacavoice.com/2014/08/editorial-
mayor-myricks-proposed-police-reforms-bold-innovative-meaningful/) of
police reforms.
City's defenseThe city and police department, however, deny that they are to blame for any
harm incurred by the boys.
CONTENT CONTINUED BELOW
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ANNOUNCEMENT
“The incident and damages alleged in the complaint were caused by plaintiffs’
culpable conduct,” reads one line of the defense. “Plaintiffs assumed the risk
of injury, which risks were open, obvious, and known.”
The City of Ithaca’s answer also denies many of the allegations of the initial
complaint; for instance, that the city police force treated “innocent African
American youth who would not comply with a white, unidentified officer’s
directives” or that they covered up their actions “by falsely and publicly
connecting the boys to a criminal investigation.”
The complaint also claimed that as a result of Sgt. Norman drawing a weapon
against them, the boys had experienced “pain, suffering and mental anguish;
fear of law enforcement; loss of enjoyment in life; loss of dignity; loss of
constitutional rights; damage to reputation and good name; stress, anxiety
and fear.”
(http://ithacavoice.com/the-ithaca-voice-series-page-catch-up-with-the-crucial-
ithaca-stories-you-may-have-missed/)Click on the Ithaca Voice Story Database to learn more. Stories on this topic are filed under "Sgt. pulls gun on minority teens in Ithaca."
The city’s response denies that Norman should be a defendant in the lawsuit.
“To the extent there are claims against defendant John Norman in his official
capacity, they are barred because they are duplicative of the claims against
defendants City of Ithaca and the Ithaca Police Department,” the defense
states.
When news of the lawsuit emerged in August, city officials then said they
would fight the claims they called “entirely meritless.”
“The stop was legal, justified and entirely race-neutral, as indicated by the
City’s internal review of this incident,” said a statement from Mayor Myrick
and Chief John Barber.
The city is being defended in the lawsuit by Molly M. Ryan of Goldberg
Segalla LLP. The teens' mothers are being represented by Ray Schlather, a
prominent Ithaca attorney.
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