Timothy Brown had finished his shift as a home health aide and security guard. He went into a liquor store in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, to buy a bottle of wine. He left in an ambulance.
On April 14, 2026, two undercover NYPD detectives on a drug operation were looking for an associate of a dealer. The description: green pants. Brown was wearing them. That was enough. According to the lawsuit he filed against the department, the detectives did not identify themselves as police, grabbed him without warning, and beat him for eight minutes: they slammed him into a glass display case, broke bottles with his body, and dragged him across the floor through the shards. Even after he was handcuffed, one of the officers kept hitting him and pressed his knee against his face with all his weight.
No drugs or contraband were found. He was the wrong person. Even so, the NYPD issued him a summons for resisting arrest. The Brooklyn district attorney ultimately dropped the charges. Brown appeared at a press conference with a black eye, a cane, and an arm brace. He is now suing the department for 100 million dollars.