New York City To Pay $625K Settlement To Black Woman After Cops Ripped Her Baby Away

A year ago, Headley was at a social ser­vices office in Brooklyn to inquire about her child care ben­e­fits. She was seat­ed on the floor with her baby in her arms as there were no more avail­able seats. The cops then demand­ed her to leave. When she told the cops that she want­ed to see a super­vi­sor, a strug­gle ensued and things esca­lat­ed quick­ly. The inci­dent was cap­tured by a bystander on video that even­tu­al­ly went viral on social media.

In the video, she can be seen on the floor on her back as offi­cers wres­tled her and took her baby from her. She can also be heard say­ing, “They’re hurt­ing my son! They’re hurt­ing my son!” Headley was then slapped with sev­er­al charges, but those were all even­tu­al­ly dropped.
Days after the inci­dent, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio apol­o­gized to her publicly.

In August, Headley sued the City of New York, claim­ing she was “humil­i­at­ed, assault­ed, phys­i­cal­ly injured, threat­ened with a taser, bru­tal­ly sep­a­rat­ed from her son, hand­cuffed, arrest­ed, and jailed — all by employ­ees of the City of New York.” She is now set to receive $650,000 settlement.