The man police beat in a Brooklyn liquor store during a botched drug arrest earlier this month said Tuesday he doesn’t think he’ll ever recover from the incident.
“I was brutally beaten for no reason,” Timothy Brown said at a news conference at his attorney’s offices in Manhattan. His remarks came a day after his lawyer filed a legal claim against the city, the NYPD and the officers involved in the arrest, which went viral once bystander video surfaced on social media. Police officials have said the officers mistook Brown for a drug dealer’s associate.
Brown spoke alongside his attorney, Derek Sells of the Cochran Firm. A notice of claim they submitted to the city comptroller’s office — a precursor to a lawsuit against the city — seeks $100 million in damages. It argues the officers violated several of Brown’s rights. It says police did not turn on body cameras in violation of NYPD policy during the arrest, and describes the incident as part of a pattern of misconduct by the narcotics unit where the officers were assigned.
“We want these police officers to know that when they commit these kinds of crimes against innocent civilians, they could lose everything,” Sells said, adding that the sum of damages claimed is targeted at the police pension fund.
Brown said his injuries from the arrest mean he can no longer work as a security guard and home health aide.
The NYPD declined to comment on his allegations, citing the pending litigation.
Video of the April 14 incident shows two officers from the NYPD’s Brooklyn North Narcotics Unit tackling Brown to the ground inside the liquor store, bashing him against the shop’s glass and dragging him against the floor.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the officers’ actions immediately after the video went viral, and Tisch disbanded the team responsible for the drug sweep. NYPD officials also said they plan to conduct a 90-day review of the department’s narcotics section, focusing on enforcement and establishing better guidelines for when detectives need to activate their body-worn cameras.
A spokesperson for City Hall on Tuesday referred Gothamist to the mayor’s previous comments denouncing Brown’s arrest.
At his attorney’s offices, Brown walked into the room with difficulty, leaning on a cane and limping heavily, his left arm in a sling.
He said he had no idea what was happening when the officers initially approached him while he was buying wine after work as a security guard.
“They said, ‘You are under arrest.’ And I said, ‘Why? I haven’t done anything.’ And before I knew it, they grabbed me and started punching me,” Brown said.
After his beating in the liquor store, Brown said he was taken to a police van, where his leg continued to bleed heavily. He said he was eventually transferred to an ambulance, though he noted his memory is foggy because he was repeatedly hit on his head.
“I’m in disbelief that this could happen at this day and age,” his mother Donna Brown said at the news conference, wiping tears from her eyes. “I just thank God that he saved Timothy.”
The son and mother said no city officials have spoken to them directly about the incident, and they are “disgusted” by the lack of outreach.
“Every time I see an officer, I’m scared,” Timothy Brown said. “I don’t know what to feel. When I hear sirens, you know, I jump. I just will never be the same.”
Samantha Max contributed reporting.
