[Dr. Benjamin Shirley]
Dr. Shirley and his attorney, Reza Rezvani with Faruqi & Faruqi LLP, are suing for unlawful discrimination, harassment, and unlawful detention.
Photo: Upper West Side Dental
Dentist Dr. Benjamin Shirley is suing the NYPD for illegal detention, harassment and discrimination. The lawyers for Dr. Shirley (Reza Rezvani with Faruqi & Faruqi LLP) released to the Black Star News the following synopsis of events.
In the early morning hours of March 9, 2020, Dr. Shirley was working late as is his usual practice, at his Upper West Side Dental business. The business maintains late hours to accommodate its clients. At approximately 12:12 to 12:13 am two officers buzzed the intercom and demand Dr. Shirley come outside and show them his identification.
When Dr. Shirley identified himself by name as the owner of the practice and asked the officers why they were there they said that they had seen him enter the building and that him merely entering the building “could be a crime.”
Over the course of nearly an hour the officers held Dr. Shirley at his office, pushing on the door to gain access, yelling at Dr. Shirley over the intercom, shining flashlights in his face, threatening to enter the premises forcibly, and threatening to destroy his intercom and security equipment.
The officers can be seen laughing at various points while doing this.
Dr. Shirley feared for his life to the point where he called 911 at 12:27 am.
Not only was his call disconnected by the NYPD’s 911 operator, the operator and the internal affairs detective–who would later close the case without any finding of fault against the officers–can be heard laughing and joking about Dr. Shirley’s distress and assuming that the officers were justified in harassing him.
After Dr. Shirley called 911, triggering an internal affairs complaint, the 24th Precinct’s sergeant was sent to the location. The Sergeant and the officer driving him, both white males (the NYPD has refused to identify them), continued harassing Dr. Shirley with the first two officers.
For the next 15 minutes, all four officers continued to harass Dr. Shirley by ringing the intercom, pushing on the door, shining flashlights inside the premises, and threatening him.
At approximately 12:40 am, one of the officers called Dr. Shirley on his cell phone (presumably he obtained this from accessing the 911 system) and threatened to break his security and intercom system if he did not come to the door and show is identification.
Seeing no end to the situation and fearing that the officers would harm his property or him, Dr. Shirley came to the door.
After Dr. Shirley showed them his ID which listed the practice as his address the officers were aggressive and completely unapologetic in defending their behavior. The officers did not dispute they had threatened to break Dr. Shirley’s property to force him to come outside.
After holding Dr. Shirley against his will for nearly an hour, the officers turned their backs on Dr. Shirley and left. The NYPD has refused to provide any further body camera footage despite lawful requests for the same.
Dr. Shirley and his attorney, Reza Rezvani with Faruqi & Faruqi LLP, are suing for unlawful discrimination, harassment, and unlawful detention.
Dr. Shirley was humiliated, disheartened, and just wanted to forget this night happened. It wasn’t even the first time he’d had an encounter with the NYPD like this.
Then the summer of 2020 happened.
He watched as countless stories were unearthed that sounded eerily familiar to his own.
