MEDIA CONTACT: Eliel Cruz, press@justicecommittte.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY––January 30, 2024––In response to the City Council's supermajority vote to override Mayor Adams’ veto of the How Many Stops Act, the Justice Committee released the following statements from families who’ve lost loved ones to the NYPD and from our Executive Director, Loyda Colón:
The following statement can be attributed to Justice Committee Executive Director Loyda Colón (they, them):
“The City Council’s override of Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the How Many Stops Act is a movement victory that would not have been achieved without the leadership of families who’ve lost loved ones to the NYPD and New York communities that have borne the brunt of the NYPD’s racist and abusive stop practices for decades.
The How Many Stops law is an essential step toward true community safety that will help ensure officers are only making stops with proper legal justification, address the NYPD's chronic underreporting of stops, and identify patterns of abuse to enable our movement to fight for and win additional public safety advances.
Today, we won a decisive victory against Mayor Adam and NYPD’ vicious campaign of lies, through which they sought to but failed to shield the NYPD from public scrutiny, however our work is far from over. Next, we must ensure the How Many Stops law is fully implemented, the officers who killed Kawaski Trawick, Allan Feliz, Delrawn Small, Antonio Williams, and Ronald Anthony Smith are fired from the NYPD. Ultimately, NYC must divests from policing and criminalization, and invest in the services, infrastructure and non-police safety alternatives we need for true community safety and well-being.
Quotes from families whose loved ones were killed by the NYPD:
"Mayor Adams lied to the families who've lost loved ones to the NYPD, the media, and New Yorkers when he promised police accountability and transparency on his campaign trail, and he lied about the How Many Stops Act," said Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez. "He has shown that he cares more about protecting the NYPD and their abusive practices than he does about New Yorkers, but today, we shut down the lies. The families thank the City Council for standing with us and all New Yorkers by overriding the mayor's veto."
“For us families who have lost loved ones to the NYPD, the fight for the How Many Stops Act was never about politics," said Samy Feliz, brother of Allan Feliz. "It is a fight for the safety and well-being of New Yorkers - especially in communities like mine, where police violence and harassment is increasing under Mayor Adams. The How Many Stops Act is not the only change we need to ensure no more families like mine have to suffer, but is an essential one and today, a broad coalition of families, organizations, and policy-makers defeated the mayor and NYPD’s misinformation campaign and enacted it into law.”
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