Driver Sues After Cops Admit on Video They Stopped Him for No Reason
A 26-year-old New York City man says he plans to sue the city for unlawful arrest after NYPD officers pulled him over in the Bronx and refused to give him any reason for the stop. Ben Farias was ordered out of the car, but he left his phone in the cupholder to record the search. The video includes one cop admitting “I don’t know why we pulled him over.”
“Just put ‘cocaine test,’” the other says, “That’s what you put.”
“That’s how you write the summons,” says the first, laughing.
All the cops found was a cookie—you can hear them mention it in the video—and the New York Daily News reports they ultimately arrested Farias for driving with an expired license, even though he showed them paperwork proving his license was good.
During the arrest, Farias says, the officers cuffed him so tightly that his wrist was fractured.
When it came time to give an official reason that they stopped Farias in the first place, the officers went with “driving with an obstructed windshield,” because he had a Christmas tree air freshener dangling from his mirror.
“It’s a basic air freshener everybody uses — I’ll never use it again though,” Farias told the Daily News.
“I felt as though they pulled me over and abused me for sport.”
