NYPD Argues It Has No Duty to Protect You & The Courts Might Agree

In a stunning legal filing that flies in the face of everything policing is supposed to stand for, New York City attorneys have argued that the NYPD has absolutely no constitutional obligation to protect a woman being attacked by a mob. The claim came in response to Amanda Luci's lawsuit, which alleges officers stood by while a large group of young men and boys surrounded her, threatened her with sexual assault, and threw objects at her outside a Crown Heights synagogue in April 2025.

Luci was not even a protester. She had simply wandered outside after hearing a helicopter over her apartment. Yet officers apparently assumed she held pro-Palestinian views and, according to her lawsuit, their inaction actively "emboldened the mob" rather than protecting an innocent civilian.

The city's legal response is breathtaking in its coldness. Attorneys bluntly stated that "plaintiff does nothing more than state that she was attacked by protestors and that the officers did not stop them," as if that weren't precisely the problem. As if standing idle while a woman is mobbed, threatened, and pelted with objects is an acceptable use of a badge.

This argument fundamentally betrays the public trust. Police departments exist with one core promise to citizens: to serve and protect. Yet here, the city's own lawyers are in court arguing that protecting people is optional.

Legal scholars push back hard on this position. Professor Leah Litman put it plainly: "Even if you have no free-standing obligation to protect everyone, you can't decide who you protect and who you don't on the basis of race, religion and freedom of speech. That's just right." The suggestion that officers may have withheld protection because they disagreed with Luci's perceived political views is an alarming indictment of selective enforcement.

Professor Alex Reinert added that if evidence shows "the NYPD's actions created a situation that increased the risk to Luci," the case deserves to be heard fully.

One officer eventually escorted Luci to safety. That a single officer acted while others reportedly did nothing only underscores how deliberate the inaction appears to have been.

Link: Gothamist