NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Daily Beast reporter from New York City is suing the NYPD for allegedly arresting him in retaliation for his coverage during the 2020 racial justice protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.
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Lachlan Cartwright, 40, filed a notice of claim with the city Comptroller’s office on July 15 for his arrest in April, according to legal documents obtained by the New York Daily News.
Cartwright said he went to Players Cafe in the West Village on April 22, but when he arrived he found the storefront unattended.
He said he waited for someone to return so he could buy something, but while he waited four police officers arrived and arrested him.
When the store’s manager arrived, she vouched for Cartwright, and the store's vice president later wrote a letter on his behalf, but police insisted on detaining him.
Cartwright said he identified himself as a Daily Beast reporter early on, because he needed to call his editor to explain why he’d be missing a deadline.
One of the arresting officers, Davine Clinton, allegedly told Cartwright that his boss spoke with the NYPD’s press office, the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, and said that “they know how you are.”
One of Cartwright's colleagues at the Daily Beast later told him the publication was contacted by DCPI and the officer said the department knows he is “not a good guy” due to his coverage of protests.
“The DCPI member referenced a May 29, 2020 interaction Mr. Cartwright had with NYPD members near Union Square Park at a protest in the wake of the murder of George Floyd while Mr. Cartwright was reporting on the protests for The Daily Beast,” the notice of claim reads. “During that interaction, Mr. Cartwright had words with police because he felt they were being heavy-handed with journalists who had just been doing their jobs.”
New York police repeatedly subjected reporters to violence during the protests.
The police charged Cartwright with criminal trespass, but the Manhattan District Attorney declined to prosecute the case and the charges were dropped.
Now, Cartwright is suing the city as well as a handful of officers involved in the arrest for their treatment of him.
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