The mother of Danielle Penny, who protested the release of the 20-year-old after police tried to press terrorism charges against her, has filed a lawsuit against the city for at least $2.5 million, accusing the New York Police Department and Mayor Eric Adams of inciting the allegations against her.
Kimberly Bernard, 35, of Manhattan, said police superiors and Hizzoner perpetuated “false” terrorism charges against her in public statements and social media posts after she was handcuffed to protest that Penney had not yet been charged in the choking death of homeless man Jordan Neely on the subway.
The mother of three also alleges the officials’ misconduct included sharing photos of Molotov cocktails that she claims they brought to a protest in Manhattan in May 2023.
Bernard said he had no knowledge of anyone possessing Molotov cocktails and had never been charged with it.
She told The Post on Monday that when a detective told her she was going to be charged with terrorism while sitting in her cell, she was “really scared.”
“I thought I would be in prison for a significant amount of time for such a serious offense. It’s a frightening thought,” said the plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court last week.
Prosecutors dropped the terrorism charges against her hours later and charged Bernard, a stay-at-home mom, with only minor offences. The entire case was dropped a month later.
Although the charges were dropped, Bernard said he remains feeling anxiety, depression and fear after being named as a terrorism suspect.
“While you’re sitting in solitary confinement, you don’t know if you’re going to be in prison for a long time,” she said, “and that makes it even more frustrating because you know you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Bernard was arrested on the evening of May 8 while waiting near the downtown police station to provide “jail support” to demonstrators — some of whom are suing the city — who had been arrested earlier that evening at a protest mourning Neely’s killing near the Broadway-Lafayette subway station.
As she stood on the sidewalk, a NYPD deputy grabbed her arm and pushed her into a brick building, the lawsuit states. Bernard said she complied with all commands and did not resist arrest. She was held in police custody for approximately 23 hours.
Police initially charged her with terrorism, but prosecutors did not accept the arresting officers’ suggestion and instead filed lesser charges against her. The charges against her were dropped in June of that year.
One of Bernard’s lawyers, Masoud Mortazavi, said he and his client had no idea where the terrorism allegations originally came from.
“That’s part of what we want to get to the bottom of,” the lawyer said.
According to the lawsuit, police leaders and Mayor Adams held a press conference where they presented “fabricated” evidence of Molotov cocktails and suggested that she and other protesters “intended to commit acts of violence and terrorism.”
The lawsuit seeks $2.5 million in damages, but her campaign said that amount could increase as the legal process progresses.
Her lawsuit alleges that the NYPD’s public information office published her name and address and said she was being arrested on terrorism charges even after the DA’s office declined to file terrorism charges.
“I didn’t feel safe being in my own home with my kids,” she told The Washington Post. “Every time the doorbell rang, I felt so anxious. It was a very scary time.”
Her lawsuit further alleges that “NYPD officers repeatedly, openly and knowingly accused Mr. Bernard of terrorism-related acts, even though they were fully aware that the accusations were false, and even after the arrest charges were dismissed by the reviewing prosecutor, the New York County District Attorney’s Office.”
Confusingly, the NYPD’s initial press release seemed to link her arrest to separate protests on the Upper East Side.
Bernard contrasts that with the information police provided about Penny: the criminal complaint listed only his name and one charge, no address, and that he left the scene several weeks after Neely’s death and was allowed to turn himself in. He was eventually charged in the case.
“It is clear that the police department’s priority was not transparency or public safety, but rather retaliation for the voices of community activists like Mr. Bernard,” said Kaysian, another of Mr. Bernard’s lawyers.
The lawsuit alleges excessive force, fabrication of evidence, First Amendment retaliation, and violations of the right to a fair trial.
A New York Police Department spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation, and a city law department spokesman declined to comment.
