The lawsuit, brought by Cristina Winsor, a 43-year-old artist and activist, alleged that her arrest and prosecution was part of a larger “pattern and practice” on the part of the NYPD that deprives protesters of their constitutional rights.
Under an unusual arrangement with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., Black Lives Matter protesters charged with minor offenses between 2016 and 2018 were prosecuted not by the lawyers from the DA’s office, but by the police department’s own in-house lawyers, empowered by Vance to act as prosecutors. NYPD leadership explained to the Daily News in early 2016 that “too many cases involving people they consider professional protesters are dismissed in summons court, paving the way for a civil lawsuit and settlement with the city.”
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 