NYPD sued after dog and owner were arrested over a filming investigation

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Harvey the dog had a rough time behind bars.

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That’s because the nine-year-old Yorkie and his owner were arrested three years ago during the COVID-19 outbreak for filming officers from the New York Police Department conducting a shoplifting investigation.

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And now the pup’s owner, Molly Griffard, is suing the NYPD for false arrest and detention and for “traumatizing” her dog by confining him for eight hours. reports Law360.

On May 3, 2020, the Legal Aid Society’s attorney said she went for a walk with Harvey in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

Early in their walk, Griffard saw police officers grab young black men and place them against a wall. She said she took out her phone and started filming the incident from a safe distance. At the same time, she informed the men about their right to remain silent and their right to a lawyer.

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“At that point one of the officers started pushing me back” Griffard told that New York Daily News a week after her arrest. “I understand that you have to keep your distance when you’re being watched by the police. I left a lot of space, both for health reasons and because I knew it was a safe way of being watched by cops.”

She said she was following an instruction to cross the street. She also took off NYPD vehicle license plates and asked the officer, who allegedly urged her for his business card.

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According to the City’s Right to Information Act, citizens can ask police officers for ID.

“When I asked him for his business card, he declined,” Griffard said. “He pushed me back again. I asked again for his business card and he turned me around, handcuffed me and arrested me,” she said.

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A police spokesman at the time said none of the men had been arrested during the investigation.

She was taken to a police station and charged with obstructing government administration. Police separated her and the dog and refused to answer where they were holding their pet and how he was after she asked multiple times.

Griffard was released around 1 a.m. the next day and was given a court date in August 2020. The charges were dropped before their first court appearance.

Griffard said she’s suing because she wants the police to obey the law.

“We have the right to register the police force in New York City and to know who these police officers are.” She told local online news portal Hell Gate. “No one should be discriminated against for exercising their rights.”