NYC paid $83 million in claims against the NYPD in under-the-radar settlements

NEW YORK — A letter to a judge written by a state prisoner convicted of several newsstand burglaries triggered a chain of events that led years later to his release — and, in January, a windfall settlement from the city before his lawsuit was even filed.

Titus McBride in that 2014 letter asked for the disciplinary records of the cops who arrested him, claiming they had been improperly withheld. On Oct. 28, 2022, after five years in prison, a judge released him for time served, ruling cops should have provided the records from the beginning.

On Jan. 16, city Comptroller Brad Lander’s office quietly settled his claim against the city for $810,000 — part of $82.7 million paid out over a two-year period in claims against the NYPD that were settled before a lawsuit was filed.

“I was blindsided that they withheld pertinent evidence and information” said McBride, now 61, who said he spent many hours in prison law libraries during his incarceration. “I caught COVID twice in prison. I lost my brother and father. My mental status went down. It was devastating.”

McBride’s case is one of 3,219 claims against the NYPD that were settled by Lander’s office between Jan. 1, 2022, and March 11, 2024, prior to a lawsuit being filed. The Daily News obtained a database of the settlements.

The total amount of $82.7 million in under-the-radar claims in that period included $9.2 million for settlements of $10,000 or less, The News analysis shows.

That’s in addition to the $249 million paid out to resolve NYPD lawsuits in 2022 and 2023.

Just 34 of the prelitigation claims were for more than $100,000, with four of them settling for millions.

Sheldon Thomas’ wrongful 2004 conviction for a murder in East New York, Brooklyn, led, for example, to a $6.5 million settlement on Feb. 14, the database shows. He served nearly 20 years in prison.

Vincent Ellerbe, one of three men wrongly convicted of killing a token booth clerk in Brooklyn in 1995 by setting him on fire, settled his claim in November for $9.25 million. He served 24 years in prison.

The other 3,185 claims settled for amounts ranging from $250 to $99,000, the database shows. Just under 54%, or 1,716, settled for $10,000 or less.

Lander said such settlements spare people from years of litigation and saves money for the city in legal expenses and potentially larger judgments.

“Titus McBride spent 8.5 years of his life behind bars because of a failure in our justice system,” Lander said in a statement. “By swiftly concluding this prelitigation settlement, the city was able to provide a small bit of justice to Mr. McBride and his loved ones.”

McBride’s lawyer, Wylie Stecklow, called the early-settlement program “bold and beneficial as long as there’s a component of police accountability.”

The examination of the data by The News also reveals that roughly half of the settled cases were handled by one law firm — Brownstein Legal and its senior partner, Ilissa Brownstein. Brownstein Legal and Ilissa Brownstein accounted for 1,757 of the settlements over the period — or 54.5%. Hundreds of those settlements were for $10,000 or less.

The comptroller’s office said Brownstein happened to file the most applications for prelitigation settlements. Brownstein declined to comment to The News.

Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said the data show settlements aren’t a fair or accurate indicator of cops’ performance.

“The city frequently chooses to settle even though police officers have done nothing wrong,” Hendry said. “Often, police officers aren’t even notified of those settlements and have no opportunity to clear their names.”

Jennvine Wong, with Legal Aid’s Cop Accountability Project, called the settlements positive, but added people might be less likely to pursue a civilian complaint as a result. It’s also not clear if the claims trigger any review by the NYPD or the city Law Department.

Just 93 of the 3,219 claims actually list the names of officers involved in the incident that led to the claim, the database shows.

“The comptroller’s office does the basic work to assess how credible the claim is, but it’s not included in the litigation numbers the city releases each year,” said Wong. “That all means misconduct could be swept under the rug.”

The NYPD’s press office didn’t reply to two emails requesting comment.

Nicholas Paolucci, a Law Department spokesman, said the settlements avoid lengthy litigation but are not counted in public disclosures because they are not technically civil actions handled by the agency.

Before he went to prison, McBride worked at the defunct ESPN Zone and Mars 2112 in Midtown as a chef.

Arrested in 2014 for one Manhattan newsstand burglary, he was charged with five others. Stecklow claims the evidence was thin, but McBride was convicted.

He then learned the arresting cops had been sued 17 times. One officer had been suspended for patronizing a prostitute on duty. But that information was not disclosed, Stecklow said.

His lawyers filed a motion to vacate in 2020, which prosecutors opposed. Once the records were turned over, his lawyers then used a case precedent that found that the NYPD systematically failed to train officers to turn over discovery.

McBride was then released. He has since returned to working as a chef.

“The process is what the process is, my situation is my situation,” McBride said.