The Legal Aid Society sued the City of New York on behalf of Tomás Medina, a New Yorker placed in an illegal chokehold and brutally tased thirteen times by New York Police Department (NYPD) Detective Fabio Nunez over a suspected noise violation. Mr. Medina’s case represented an egregious example of NYPD officers’ routine violation of the NYPD’s official policy banning the chokehold in nearly all circumstances and their overuse of tasers, resulting in needless pain and injury. Between January 2015 – June 2018, the City settled at least 30 lawsuits involving the use of chokeholds by the NYPD, and the Civilian Complaint Review Board received at least 582 allegations of NYPD officers using chokeholds against New Yorkers.  

In 2020, the Southern District of New York granted and denied in part the City’s motion to dismiss the case, allowing Mr. Medina’s constitutional claims against Detective Nunez to proceed but denying standing for our claims of equitable relief. In 2021, Mr. Medina chose to settle his claim against the City for $567,500, including $5,000 from Detective Nunez himself, after receiving information that Detective Nunez was forced to retire as part of a guilty plea entered during the disciplinary investigation into the matter.