The New York City Police Department was sued Wednesday over allegations that it conducted racially discriminatory traffic stops targeting Black and brown New Yorkers without probable cause.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, the Bronx Defenders and Milbank LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP New York State Conference and two Black New York residents against the City of New York, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, NYPD Chief of Department Michael LiPetri and about a dozen police officers for systematically targeting tens of thousands of Black and Latino drivers with unconstitutional vehicle searches.
The suit, which seeks systemic changes at the NYPD and how officers conduct traffic-related searches, noted an 83% increase in NYPD vehicle searches under former Mayor Eric Adams. In 2023, the number of reported vehicle searches was 15,556; by 2024, that number had ballooned to 28,416 searches, according to the complaint.
Black or Latino drivers made up over 84% of reported vehicle searches conducted by the NYPD from 2022 through September 2025, while less than 4% of vehicle searches targeted white drivers, the suit says.
Black drivers stopped by NYPD officers have their vehicles searched nearly ten times more often than white drivers. Similarly, Latino drivers stopped by NYPD officers have their vehicles searched nearly six times more often than white drivers, according to the lawsuit.
“The New York Police Department has too often relied on race in lieu of probable cause to escalate routine traffic stops into unconstitutional vehicle searches,” said L. Joy Williams, president of NAACP New York State Conference. “Driving while Black is not a crime and Black New Yorkers should not be so routinely subjected to such traumatic treatment as if it was."
Williams said unlawful vehicle stops is not a new issue.
"We have fought back against pretextual stops and searches before and once again we find ourselves in the midst of a return to form for the NYPD," she said. "Now is the time to confront and correct this behavior that, if left unchecked, will continue to erode community trust in law enforcement.”
When asked to comment on the lawsuit, a NYPD spokesperson referred BK Reader to a testimony from an April 2025 City Council hearing, where Joshua Levin, a managing attorney of the NYPD Legal Bureau Training Unit, said the police sends more officers to high crime areas.
“Any time you have more police officers in a certain area, as a result you are going to see more enforcement, you are going to see more car stops, you are going to see more searches,” he said at the hearing.
A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to comment on the details of ongoing litigation.
