A Queens man has filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and two NYPD officers, alleging multiple civil rights violations stemming from a traffic stop that led to his wrongful arrest and prosecution. Joseph Samuel filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on September 16, 2024, naming Police Officers Christopher Abreu and Nicholas Condos as defendants.
The lawsuit recounts an incident on November 29, 2022, when Samuel was pulled over by Abreu and Condos while driving in Queens. The officers claimed his car windows were excessively tinted. After verifying that Samuel's license and registration were valid, they requested to search his vehicle. Despite no probable cause or warrant, Samuel consented to the search. During the search, Sergeant Condos discovered a black backpack in the trunk containing a firearm. Samuel was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Samuel alleges that the officers fabricated evidence to justify their actions. According to the complaint, Abreu and Condos falsely reported that Samuel had been speeding, acting nervously, and that they observed shell casings inside his car before searching the trunk. These fabrications led to his prosecution by the Queens County District Attorney’s Office on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
Samuel spent sixteen days at Rikers Island jail after being unable to post bail set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond during his arraignment on November 30, 2022. He continued to make numerous court appearances until August 31, 2023, when all charges were dismissed following a suppression hearing where Justice Karen Gopee ruled that the firearm evidence was inadmissible due to lack of reasonable suspicion for the search.
The complaint asserts violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for unlawful search, malicious prosecution, denial of fair trial rights, unlawful seizure of property (his car), and failure to intervene against both individual officers and under state law against New York City through respondeat superior doctrine. It also claims negligent hiring/training/retention by NYPD contributed to these events.
Samuel seeks compensatory damages for lost wages from missed work due to incarceration and enhanced parole-reporting obligations which affected his employment reliability. He also requests punitive damages against all defendants along with attorney’s fees under federal civil rights law.
Representing Joseph Samuel is attorney Cyrus Joubin from New York City. Case ID: 1:24-cv-06494.