A high ranking NYPD official is among several defendants in a lawsuit accusing him of body slamming a woman to the pavement in lower Manhattan during a May 2023 protest, The lawsuit says the encounter left her with a broken eye socket and a laceration to her forehead, but police sources say the woman was not injured by cops, but ran into a pole.
Kaz Daughtry, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner of operations and two senior commanders are accused in the lawsuit filed against the city last week by Shakim McKnight of tackling and pinning her to the ground on May 8, 2023, near Crosby and Houston Sts. while she says she was filming a vigil for Jordan Neely, the homeless man killed during a scuffle a week earlier aboard the F train with former Marine Daniel Penny.
While it’s unclear what prompted police officers at the scene to pursue McKnight, her lawyer, John Paul De Verna, said his client was crossing the street to get away from the crowd when Daughtry darted across a traffic divider and grabbed her, slamming her to the ground. Other officers including an inspector and a deputy chief “put their knees upon [McKnight’s] back, piled on top of [McKnight] while kneeing them and grabbing and twisting their ankle,” the lawsuit says.
About a dozen people were arrested during the chaotic protest at the Broadway-Lafayette subway station. The chokehold death of Neely touched off a series of protests and vigils in the days following the episode.
“The pictures and video speak for themselves; Ms. McKnight was brutally assaulted while exercising her constitutional right to film during the remembrance vigil. Her grave and serious injuries were compounded by a delay in medical attention,” De Verna said. “To make matters worse, to my knowledge, no disciplinary action was taken against Kaz Daughtry or any other of the officers involved.”
A police source who requested anonymity said that “this individual did not get hurt from physical contact with Kaz Daughtry. This individual ran into a pole.” A video obtained by the News appears to show McKnight hitting a pole just before Daughtry grabs her.
Video and photos taken at the scene show the encounter and McKnight being loaded into a police van with blood on her face. Verna said McKnight suffered a sprained ankle and wrist, a forehead gash and a broken eye socket. He said she spent hours in a precinct without medical attention before she was finally placed on a stretcher and taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
He said she was only charged with disorderly conduct for failure to disperse, which is a noncriminal violation. A copy of the summons states, “[She] was with more than two other people in a public street and refused to comply with multiple lawful orders to disperse.”
Cops gave her a desk appearance ticket at the hospital, Deverna said. She went to two court dates before the disorderly conduct violation was dismissed two months later on July 11, 2023. Because of the dismissal, the original arrest records are sealed.
“I have never experienced something like this in my life. I’m still hurt emotionally and physically,” McKnight, 29, a Brooklyn resident, told the Daily News. “For weeks afterward I could not even leave the house. Now, when I leave the house, anytime I see a cop, I’m scared that something else is going to happen to me.”
McKnight’s lawsuit also names John Corbisiero, an NYPD inspector in Manhattan South who signed the summons, John Dadamo, a deputy chief assigned to the Strategic Response Group, and Frank Russo, a cop assigned to a Community Response Team.
McKnight was one of about a dozen people arrested during the vigil, which also included veteran photojournalist Stephanie Keith. Keith’s work has appeared in the New York Times and Reuters. The NYPD said they found a Molotov cocktail at the scene of the vigil and Mayor Adams, at the time, defended the police actions.
The vigil took place one week after the deadly encounter between Penny and Neely, who scuffled on a subway train heading toward the Broadway-Lafayette station May 1, 2023, after Neely became aggressive. Penny placed Neely in a chokehold and Neely passed out and died.
Neely’s death was ruled a homicide, and a Manhattan grand jury indicted Penny on second-degree murder charges in June 2023. The case is pending.
Juan Alberto Vazquez
Juan Alberto Vazquez/Juan Vazquez Video footage shows former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny putting Jordan Neely in a chokehold while aboard a subway as it pulls into the Broadway-Lafayette St. station in Manhattan May 1. (Juan Alberto Vazquez)
Daughtry was a detective at the time of the encounter with McKnight, his official bio states. In July 2023, he was named a civilian assistant commissioner, then a deputy commissioner in February, according to the bio.
