New York – New York City police officers charged a transgender woman with “false personation” and used pink handcuffs to mock her after they arrested her for walking through a park after hours, a lawsuit charges.
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Linda Dominguez says in her lawsuit filed Tuesday that she was hit with the “bogus” charge of false personation — or knowingly misrepresenting her identity —even though she explained that she was transgender and gave the officers both her current name and the traditionally masculine first name she used before she legally changed her name to Linda.
The lawsuit says the 43-year-old Dominguez “had no intent to deceive the police or prevent them from learning her name or her identity” when she was arrested April 18.
A police spokeswoman said the department could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. The department said in a statement that it “is committed to serving and meeting the needs of the LGBTQ community with sensitivity, equity and effectiveness.”
According to the lawsuit, which names New York City and three police officers as defendants, Dominguez was walking through a Bronx park to her apartment when officers stopped her for being in the park after it was closed.
The lawsuit filed by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union says that Dominguez speaks limited English and had difficulty understanding the officers, but that she first gave them her original name along with her birth date and address.
The officers took her to the stationhouse, where she explained to a Spanish-speaking officer that she was transgender and her legal name was now Linda, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says the officers placed Dominguez in a cell, handcuffed to a bar or pipe using pink handcuffs, and left her in the handcuffs all night.
The officers referred to Dominguez by her masculine first name throughout her detention, laughed at her and referred to her as “he” and “him,” the lawsuit says.
Dominguez was arraigned the next day on charges of trespassing for being in the park after hours, as well as false impersonation. The charges were dismissed in August.
Dominguez, a licensed cosmetologist and an activist for the rights of transgender immigrants, says that the arrest caused her “mental anguish, ongoing humiliation and embarrassment” and that she remains afraid of the police.
The lawsuit charges that Dominguez’s treatment violated the police department’s patrol guide, which since 2012 has directed officers to refer to people by names and pronouns consistent with their gender identities.
“This highlights the way the NYPD continues to criminalize transgender people just for existing,” Bobby Hodgson, an NYCLU attorney representing Dominguez, said Wednesday. “It’s one thing to change a rule on the books, but it’s another thing to change the culture of an institution like the NYPD. Here they failed to do that.”
Bloody time waster, what a waste of space
Hey Dude, man you got a nice rack.
Crazy people all over the place.
The DNA in every cell of your body says your a male. You can’t change that.
Sick world.
False personation..
Is that like peach 45 ?
I would have thought you may dress and use whatever name you like as long as it is not to defraud. What a silly thing for the police to do.
America is becoming more creepier place to live each day and these queer weirdos are only one of the many reasons….
The cops are sickos; what right did they have in having this defendant handcuffed in a cell all night? Once they are in a cell, the handcuffs are supposed to be removed. I worked at a police station for years, and I never once saw any arrestees who were handcuffed, once they were in a cell. One time, I was on the subway, and a New York Transit cop saw what appeared to be a transgender, who was seated in the subway, and not bothering any one. The idiotic cop stated rudely, “What are you man, a boy or a girl”. What was the cop’s blasted business, what gender the individual was, as long as that person was not bothering anybody?