Lincoln Restler
Role at the time: New York City Council member for District 33, at a Public Safety Committee hearing
Statement summary
Council Member Lincoln Restler told NYPD officials that 45 deaths in NYPD custody over two years was a phenomenal and disturbing number.
“Forty-five deaths in NYPD custody over the last two-plus years. It's a phenomenal number, disturbing number.”
Official transcript of the Public Safety Committee's oversight hearing on NYPD officer discipline and the Civilian Complaint Review Board, where members questioned NYPD officials about deaths in custody.
Why we used this label
The reference point is whether the NYPD and the city are failing people who fall ill in police custody. Restler calls the 45 deaths in NYPD custody he cited over two years "a phenomenal number, disturbing number" and pressed NYPD officials on medical care at Brooklyn Criminal Court. That treats the deaths as a problem the department must answer for, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, which would fit a request for information alone; he characterizes the toll and presses for changes.