The Legal Aid Society and Covington & Burling LLP filed a civil rights lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the City of New York, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Neighborhood Coordination Officer Fabio Nunez, et al. for using a banned chokehold on their client while policing noise conditions in Washington Heights during an overtime shift, reports Gothamist.

“The reason that this escalated is because officers insisted on getting identification for a ticket for a noise violation. Broken windows policing tends to increase tension and violence in communities, rather than reducing it,” said Cynthia Conti-Cook, Staff Attorney with the Special Litigation Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

“For years the NYPD has failed to discipline officers like Nunez who use chokeholds and it’s time to send a clear message to officers that if you go for the neck, you will lose your job with very limited exceptions,” she continued. “The same is true for the widespread excessive use of tasers that goes way beyond what is considered tolerable even by NYPD and industry standards, yet unpunished.”