Jesse Lance, an NYPD inspector accused of roughing up a George Floyd protester in Brooklyn two years ago, was cleared of all departmental charges. According to NYPD records, two other officers were found guilty of using excessive force.
At his March trial at 1 Police Plaza, Lance testified Kedwin Payamps and other bicyclists were “obstructionists” who blocked police from acting during the June 4th, 2020 demonstration in Clinton Hill; this day saw protestors lob bottles at officers. Lance struck Payamps’ backpack twice with his baton and claimed it was the least amount of force he could have used. The Civilian Complaint Review Board argued he had used excessive force, substantiating Payamps’ allegation and prosecuting the case.
Payamps testified he was biking past the protest when confronted by Lance; soon, he said, a group rushed him and arrested him for violating curfew, a charge that would be later dismissed.
The video of the incident showed Payamps looking back at Lance as Lance approached to enforce the 8 PM curfew and make an arrest.
Lance, who was also accused of making misleading statements to the CCRB when he was first interviewed, claimed he couldn’t identify himself in the video, only to have his memory jogged after reading 1,700 pages of documents about the protest and watching the footage at least 100 times.
The CCRB recommended Lance to lose 30 days of vacation pay and be placed on dismissal probation. But NYPD Judge Jeff Adler instead recommended the 24-year veteran be found not guilty. On June 16 then-NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell approved Adler’s recommendation, with the findings were disclosed in a quarterly report released by the CCRB on August 21st. In turn, Payamps has filed a lawsuit against the NYPD.
For Lance, it was the second time he was acquitted at a department trial. In 2019, he was tried and cleared in a case that came from an accusation that he barged into a Brooklyn apartment and accosted a family following a shooting outside their building.
