Allen Moye (Ellis Kaplan)
Consider the floodgates open!
A Queens man yesterday filed the first of what is expected to be a slew of false-arrest suits, citing a judge’s finding that the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program is unconstitutional.
Allen Moye, 54, of Jamaica, claims that Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin’s decision earlier this month supports his claim that he was racially profiled by cops who busted him in 2010.
The suit cites Detective Roger Mooyoung and five “John Doe” Narcotics Squad cops for an “unlawful search” and “false arrest” on Sept. 15, 2010, in Harlem’s 25th Precinct.
All charges were dismissed on Feb. 23, 2011, the suit says. A law-enforcement source said the charges were drug- related.
Moye’s suit says “it may be inferred” that cops illegally targeted him, based on Scheindlin’s “finding that the NYPD had violated the rights of thousands of citizens with respect to the application of its stop-and-frisk policy.”
Earlier this week, the city acknowledged that Scheindlin’s decision — which the Bloomberg administration is appealing — could spur a slew of lawsuits.
In a letter asking her to hold off on court-ordered reforms, city lawyers noted that “individuals who believe they are aggrieved during the pendency of the requested stay will still have full opportunity to litigate any claims for money damages due to alleged unconstitutional stop-and-frisk activity.”
Last week, the City Council overrode a mayoral veto of a bill that makes it easier for people to sue over alleged racial profiling. That new law goes into effect in November.
Moye’s Manhattan Supreme Court suit seeks unspecified damages on grounds including false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Court papers say Moye, who is black and legally blind, was “waiting for a friend” in Harlem when he was “suddenly approached” by a half-dozen cops.
“They were rough. And they didn’t tell me what I did or nothing,” Moye told The Post yesterday.
“They just went through [my clothes] like I wasn’t even there, and told me, ‘What are you doing here?’ What do you mean, like I’m from another planet? I thought this was a free country and you can go anywhere.”
Moye also said he hasn’t returned to Harlem, where he grew up, since the incident.
“They [the cops] traumatized me. I can’t go back there because I know what kind of people they are. They’re like Nazis,” he said.
“I was trying to talk to Internal Affairs when they locked me up. They told me, ‘Oh, he’s coming right now.’ Never came.”
A source said Moye had a subsequent November 2010 arrest for criminal sale of a controlled substance in Manhattan. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
NYU law Prof. Martin Guggenheim said, “Nothing that [Scheindlin] found has any immediate bearing on this case because the question in this case is, ‘Was there reasonable suspicion to stop this person?’ ”
But Guggenheim noted some judges “are going to be more inclined to credit the plaintiff than the police, because the police were found by Judge Scheindlin to have testified falsely in some respects, to have not candidly revealed their practices, and right now the police are on the run.”
The city Law Department said it hadn’t yet been served with the suit, but a city legal source noted that the stop-and-frisk case sought changes to NYPD policy, while Moye is seeking money damages.
“He still must prove that he was unconstitutionally stopped and falsely arrested,” the source added.