Documents released by the New York City Law Department show the city paid out $428 million in settlements in police-related civil rights lawsuits since 2009. The records were released after a Freedom of Information Act request made by MuckRock, who asked the department how many civil rights lawsuits were filed against the city where the New York Police Department (NYPD) was listed as a defendant over a five-year period.  

The document only lists the name of the plaintiff and the settlement outcome so details on specific cases will require further investigation, but Gothamist argued that not all settlements seem to be the result of misconduct. The largest payout of $11.5 million went to Google engineer Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, who was nearly killed in 2009 when tree branch in Central Park fell on him. Another large settlement was to the family of Ronald Spear, who died after being beaten by Rikers Island guards -- officials who worked for the Department of Corrections, not the NYPD. Without those two cases, however, there are still several thousands of cases where the NYPD was listed as defendant.

In an earlier analysis of civil rights lawsuits filed against the City over a decade, the New York Daily News found many of the suits were for alleged false arrest. In those cases scores of people filed suit who were injured by police when arrested for criminal charges later dismissed by the courts. And their claims in those instances were for injuries, losing or almost losing their jobs, kids, pets or homes.

The lack of detail on the list doesn't say if there have been cases pending against the city for a long time like the recently settled Central Park Five jogger case which took a decade to settle. The Central Park Five -- at the time teenager African-Americans and Latinos -- were accused, charged and incarcerated for allegedly raping a jogger in the park. The five had their convictions vacated in 2002 after the real rapist confessed to the crime. The Five sued the city for wrongful conviction, and the case was settled in 2014 for $41 million --although the city would not admit fault.

The amount of settlements are likely to be higher in 2014 as in the first six months alone the city has spent nearly $103 million on police misconduct and civil rights settlements, according to figures from the city comptroller's office. Last year the city paid out only $96 million. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has launched a program called ClaimStat -- a "data-driven claims review that will identify patterns and practices across city agencies that lead to claims, and work with agencies to find solutions to save taxpayers money."