New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on Monday vehemently denied that he’d told former Governor David Patterson in 2010 that the NYPD targeted young black and Latino men because “he wanted to instill fear in them, every time they leave their home they could be stopped by the police.” That’s what State Senator Eric Adams testified on Monday, recalling a meeting he had attended between Kelly and Patterson over the tactic. Kelly, who is not scheduled to testify in the civil trial over stop-and-frisk, said in an affidavit that the claim was “absolutely, categorically untrue,” and “that has not been nor is it now the policy or practice of the NYPD.”
But the judge in the case stopped the city’s lawyer from reading Kelly’s statement out in court, calling it a “back door” method of admitting testimony. So Kelly was left to give his side of the story in an unrelated press conference. “It’s interesting that apparently only Adams heard this statement, although others were present,” he said, according to WNYC. It’s not the first time Adams has made the allegation, but as he’s the only elected official scheduled to testify in the stop-and-frisk trial, it’s certainly the most high-profile venue.
