Settlement Is Approved in Central Park Jogger Case, but New York Deflects Blame (original) (raw)
New York|Settlement Is Approved in Central Park Jogger Case, but New York Deflects Blame
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- Sept. 5, 2014
A $41 million settlement for five men whose convictions in the 1989 beating and rape of a female jogger in Central Park were later overturned was made final on Friday, with the deal including unusual language that sought to absolve New York City from blame.
The agreement, which awards the five black and Hispanic plaintiffs about $1 million for each year of their imprisonment, includes no admission of wrongdoing from the city; in fact, the city explicitly asserts that prosecutors and police detectives did nothing wrong at the time.
“The City of New York has denied and continues to deny that it and the individually named defendants have committed any violations of law or engaged in any wrongful acts concerning or related to any allegations that were or could have been alleged,” the settlement states.
The city’s corporation counsel, Zachary W. Carter, later amplified the city’s stance, saying that the agreement “should not be construed as an acknowledgment that the convictions of these five plaintiffs were the result of law enforcement misconduct.”
“On the contrary,” he continued, “our review of the record suggests that both the investigating detectives and the assistant district attorneys involved in the case acted reasonably, given the circumstances with which they were confronted.”
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Raymond Santana, left, Yusef Salaam, center, and Kevin Richardson, second from right, in June.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
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