Keith Wright was arrested Sept. 16 for allegedly leaving the scene after hitting an e-bike rider along with his automobile door at 138th Road and fifth Avenue in Harlem.
AP Photograph/Mike Groll, File
Former Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright was wronged, in line with his $10 million lawsuit in opposition to the town.
He claims he was “mentally devastated” after being “falsely” arrested final 12 months for leaving the scene of an accident, and threatened whereas spending a day in jail.
“My arrest and incarcerations embarrassed and humiliated me to such a level, that I used to be grossly ashamed and depressed,” he says within the Manhattan Supreme Court docket lawsuit.
Wright, 66, was arrested Sept. 16 for allegedly leaving the scene after hitting an e-bike rider along with his automobile door at 138th Road and fifth Avenue in Harlem. Expenses have been dropped in November.
The Manhattan Democratic Celebration boss denied wrongdoing, saying he spent greater than 40 minutes on the scene with the injured rider after the Aug. 26 accident, which unfolded simply earlier than 9 p.m.
The e-bike rider was rushing, had no headlamp or flashing lights, didn’t name 911 himself and refused assist on the scene, Wright stated in court docket papers filed in opposition to the town and NYPD Detective Lamont Deadrick, who arrested him.
Wright claims he feared for his life whereas locked up for greater than 24 hours in a cell at Manhattan Legal Court docket, the place he endured “threats of bodily violence by different incarcerated people” and “excessive ranges of humiliation.”
Different inmates “began calling him ‘Pops,’ ‘outdated man,’ ‘grandpa,’ and have been attempting to intimidate him. That’s scary,” Wright’s lawyer, Kenneth Ramseur, advised The Submit. “And naturally, to not point out how filthy it was.” He was “so mentally devastated and embarrassed by his arrest that he was considerably dysfunctional,” court docket papers declare.
The legal professional questioned why Wright wasn’t merely given a desk look ticket. “He may have come to court docket on one other date” as an alternative of being held within the lockup, Ramseur stated.
Wright confronted criticism in 2019 for serving as a celebration chief whereas additionally working as a lobbyist. Wright is the federal government relations group director of high-powered agency Davidoff Hutcher & Citron. Wright left the Meeting in 2016 after an unsuccessful bid to succeed Rep. Charlie Rangel.
In 2014, Wright tried to intervene when his then-chief of employees, Jeanine R. Johnson, was charged with reckless driving and driving whereas intoxicated, sending a letter to the decide overseeing her case. Johnson later pleaded responsible to a lesser cost and in 2018 ran unopposed for a Manhattan judgeship — a transfer Wright, as occasion chief, greenlit.
Wright needs a court docket to let him file a late discover of declare in his lawsuit, saying he didn’t instantly sue due to emotional issues sparked by his brush with the felony justice system.
“I felt I had failed my group, my household, my constituents and my neighbors. … Every time I mentioned my arrest and inca099rceration, I had issue sleeping, consuming and concentrating on issues of significance. This disgrace and despair took over my life and nonetheless impacts me,” he stated in authorized papers.
Deadrick, the detective, declined remark.
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