On March 17, 2012, after 6 months of Occupy Wall Street and the mess it created at Zuccotti Park, the NYPD began to clear out Zuccotti Park so that the park could be cleaned by its owner. Multiple protesters refused to leave and locked arms and a few chained themselves to a tree. The NYPD arrested those protesters who refused to leave. It was a chaotic scene and some arresting officers were separated from their arrestees. Because of this, several arrests were dismissed (DP'd) when no officers present could attest to the arrestees' criminal conduct. As usual, the protesters then filed a lawsuit against the City and the officers.
The District Court granted summary judgment for the City, dismissing some of the plaintiffs' claims (other claims were settled). The plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of their false arrest, First Amendment, excessive detention, and fair trial rights claims. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling, dismissing the suit. The court held, among other things:
Probable Cause The existence of probable cause to arrest is justification and a complete defense to a false arrest claim. The court found that probable cause existed to arrest the protesters for disorderly conduct.
First Amendment The existence of probable cause defeats a First Amendment retaliation claim. The court also held that the temporary closing of Zuccotti Park for cleaning was a reasonable constitutional time, place, and manner restriction.
Excessive Detention The court held that, as a matter of law, the plaintiffs' detention of 24 to 30 hours was presumptively reasonable under federal standards. Under federal standards, judicial determinations of probable cause within 48 hours satisfy the promptness requirement. The court noted that while New York law requires arraignments to occur within 24 hours, New York law doesn't matter when making a claim under the 4th Amendment in federal court.
The case is Caravalho et al v. Cty of New York et al.
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