{"active":false,"first_name":"David","last_name":"Groht","race":"White","gender":"Male","rank":"LT","command":{"command":"017 PCT","id":"17pct"},"ended_date":"2013-11-07","taxid":"879044","complaint_ids":[200808497,200206022,9803753,9501380,9203259,9201022,9103180,8704817,8604836,8603963,8401315],"appt_date":"1983-01-03","lawsuits":[{"name":"Ugweches, Austen vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2016-05-03","disposition_date":"2025-02-28","payout_amount":150000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"153264/2016","court":"Supreme Court - New York","officer_name":"Ghoht, David","summary":"On April 22, 2015, Plaintiff was seated in his stationary vehicle near Grand Central Station, waiting for a vehicle to exit a parking spot that he intended to park in. Police Officer Karen Murphy began writing Plaintiff a ticket, claiming that Plaintiff was blocking a firetruck. Plaintiff told Murphy that he was waiting for the vehicle to pull out so he could park and he would never block a firetruck as an officer of the court. Murphy told Plaintiff she would give him a choice of a ticket for double parking or a moving violation. Plaintiff informed Murphy that he would fight any ticket in court, and Murphy called for backup on her walkie talkie. Police Officers including Ada Che' Aguello, Brian Johnson, Gross, David Groht, Joel Polanco, Sear St. Clair, and John and Jane Does 1-3 arrived. Plaintiff informed them that he had not broken any traffic laws and that Murphy was fabricating claims and framing him. \n\nDefendant police officers grabbed and threw Plaintiff against his car and slammed his head against the vehicle and handcuffed him in a brutal fashion. Murphy began searching Plaintiff without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. After being placed in a police vehicle, Plaintiff was driven around for nearly two hours before being brought to the 17th Precinct. Plaintiff was charged with assault on a police officer based on Murphy's false claim that Plaintiff struck her with his vehicle. This was an upgrade to Plaintiff's original charge of obstructing government affairs after Plaintiff filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. The City moved to have Plaintiff's vehicle confiscated and failed to look into claims that Murphy fabricated the incident and the other police officers covered it up. Plaintiff was convicted, incarcerated and lost his law license, and suffered emotionally and financially. The Appellate Division vacated his conviction on January 20, 2015.","documents":[{"url":"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=mbNgzIpv6Z4f0OIQ4paeWg==","type":"complaint"}]},{"name":"Case, Benjamin, et al. vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2015-03-12","payout_amount":0,"disposition":"","docket":"14CV09148","court":"U.S. District Court - Southern District NY","officer_name":"Ghoht, David","summary":"On November 17, 2011, four Plaintiffs participated in peaceful activities protected by the law, namely, peacefully assembling and demonstrating with others in association with Occupy Wall Street – a political movement dedicated to addressing interconnected grievances of the 99% vis-à-vis the 1%, including in relation to income inequality – in the Wall Street area. Then, without lawful authority or justification, police officers unlawfully detained and arrested Plaintiffs, using excessive force against them. Officers subjected Plaintiffs to unnecessarily lengthy mass arrest processing and detentions; three of the Plaintiffs were eventually released with Desk Appearance Tickets after between approximately fifteen and twenty hours each in police custody, and one Plaintiff, who was fully booked and processed, remained in custody for almost forty hours. In addition, the officers maliciously abused process against Plaintiffs, creating and forwarding false evidence against them to prosecutors, as a result of which they were prosecuted. One Plaintiff eventually pleaded guilty to a Disorderly Conduct violation to resolve his case. The three other Plaintiffs eventually accepted Adjournments in Contemplation of Dismissal to resolve the criminal cases against them. \n\nPOs Joseph Esposito, Brian McCarthy, David Groht, and Lawrence Papola directed and/or supervised and/or participated in the mass arrests in which Plaintiffs were swept up and as the result of which Plaintiffs were subject to the aforementioned incidents, and otherwise injured, and/or failed to intervene to prevent or remedy injuries to Plaintiffs. POs Benjamin Almonte, Daniel Conforti, Downes (first name unknown at the time of the complaint), Dmitry Tverdokhleb, and Michael Maldonado, were each either personally involved in detaining and/or arresting Plaintiffs, including in using force on them, and/or in processing Plaintiffs’ arrests, including in the creation of false statements related to Plaintiffs that were forwarded to prosecutors, and/or failed to intervene to prevent or remedy injuries to Plaintiffs.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.435125.41.0.pdf","type":"complaint"},{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4923500-Case-et-al-v-City-of-New-York-et-al"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4354455/case-v-the-city-of-new-york/"}],"id":"FGNL","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/FGNL"}