(TheAntiMedia) NEW YORK, NY- A former New York City council analyst is suing his former employer, claiming he was fired for speaking out about alleged NYPD lies. Artyom Matusov claims NYPD commissioner, Bill Bratton, presented a report to the council claiming the use of excessive force was down, but Matusov knew the officer was manipulating the data.
He says he tried to speak to his superiors but was ignored. In September, he told the New York Post:
” I said screw it, something needs to be done, and contacted my journalist friends and some council members and said [Commissioner Bill] Bratton had purposely misled the council.”
Only several days after Matusov spoke with reporters, he was fired from his position. Shortly after, he announced he would be suing the city council, and this week, filed charges in Manhattan federal court against the legislative body and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. He is represented by civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who said he hoped the case would encourage other government whistleblowers to speak up. Further, he told the Post he hopes
“… that some of the people in the City Council, some of the people in the mayor’s office, maybe some of the people at the police department, would rethink what they did to him.”
Matusov, a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, says he found evidence indicating that Bratton had “low-balled” the numbers on instances of excessive force committed by cops. He has also filed a whistleblower complaint with the city’s Department of Investigations.
Siegel will argue in court that his client’s first-amendment rights were violated because when he spoke to reporters, he did so as a “concerned citizen,” not a government employee.
Even if he were speaking as a government employee (and assuming his claims are true), it is ludicrous that a government worker could lose their job for attempting to hold the state accountable. To do so is an action the government claims to encourage. Though it is ludicrous, such a firing is not surprising.
Many police officers have been mistreated, fired, or suspended for attempting to report bad behavior. As Siegel noted,
“You hope that people will have the strength and courage to speak out…So many people in government are afraid to speak.”
Initially, the city council declined to comment on Matusov’s case, but on Wednesday, told the Post
“There is absolutely no merit to the claims. We are confident that we will prevail.”
In September, police said Matusov had
“grossly misinterpreted the statistics he used to determine that Police Commissioner Bratton has been caught in a lie before the City Council.”
Even if this is true, it seems unwarranted to fire an individual for publicly raising legitimate concerns about institutions that have repeatedly proved to be corrupt and violent. A trial date has not yet been determined, but should Matusov win, an important precedent may be set for demanding transparency and justice.