U.S. Supreme Court Rules Brooklyn Man Can Sue NYPD Over False Arrest

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn man falsely arrested in 2014 got the go-ahead to sue the NYPD this week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor.

The SCOTUS decision — by a vote of 6 to 3 — comes years after Larry Thompson first tried to sue police who forced their way into his Lincoln Place home on a false accusation that he had abused his newborn daughter, according to court records and reports.

Lower courts had dismissed Thompson's suit, arguing that the fact that his resisting arrest charge was dropped was not enough to show there had been a "favorable termination" of the prosecution against him, a rule required to bring a lawsuit.

But the country's highest court disagreed.

"A plaintiff need not show that the criminal prosecution ended with some affirmative indication of innocence," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. "A plaintiff need only show that his prosecution ended without a conviction. Thompson has satisfied that requirement here."

The 2014 arrest began when Thompson's sister-in-law, who suffered from mental illness, called the police to report that Thompson was sexually abusing his newborn baby, according to the decision.

When police officers showed up at the door, Thompson refused to let them in without a warrant, but the cops came in anyway, tackling Thompson, handcuffing and arresting him, according to court records and reports. The baby was taken to the hospital where "medical professionals examined her and found no signs of abuse," Kavanaugh wrote.

Thompson would spend two days in jail on a resisting arrest charge that prosecutors ultimately dropped. His lawsuit later claimed the officers' had violated his Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights.