BROOKLYN (CN) - NYPD officers arrested a man who posted a critical comment about the force after a fatal police shooting in 2013, the man claims in Federal Court.
The New York City Police Department's "Threat Assessment Protection Unit" searches the Internet to identify threats to political figures and law enforcement officials.
The search results are given to the Cyber Intelligence Unit, which gets the IP address of the computer from which a posting was made and scans a database to find the person.
The unit also searches for online posts that criticized the department, plaintiff Cortney Dupree claims in his July 14 lawsuit.
On March 14, 2013, Dupree made a critical comment about the March 9, 2013 death of Kimani Greyon on TheHoodup.com, a website for minorities.
He says police spotted the post, then appeared at his home to question him.
During questioning, they showed him pictures of a deceased member of Fred Hampton, a Black Panther who was killed by the police, Dupree says.
After acknowledging that he made the post, Dupree says, he was arrested, handcuffed and searched in front of his mother and two young nephews.
He says he spent the next 15 months appearing in court to defend himself before all charges were dismissed on June 11, 2014.
Dupree seeks damages for violations of his First Amendment rights.
He is represented by Gabriel Harvis with Harvis Wright & Fett, of Manhattan.
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