The Legal Aid Society brought this lawsuit to challenge the New York Police Department’s practice of interfering with and deterring New Yorkers from filming, photographing, videotaping, or otherwise recording on duty police officers in public places, in blatant violation of the First Amendment. Our client, Ruben An, was harassed and then arrested by NYPD officers in retaliation for filming their questioning of a pedestrian on the Lower East Side.

We reached a settlement agreement with the City of New York in 2018, which required changes to the Patrol Guide and the re-training of NYPD staff on the public’s right to record officers in public.