New York Police Review Board Investigates NYPD Raid Of Shop That Allegedly Sold Marijuana Without A License

“The only thing I was asking for was a court order, and then they took me to jail.”

By Rosalind Adams, THE CITY

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board is investigating an incident of possible police misconduct during a recent bust of an allegedly unlicensed pot shop, according to a CCRB letter dated July 9 and reviewed by THE CITY.

Video surveillance footage of the incident, which THE CITY first reported in June, shows seven uniformed law enforcement officers, most of them from the NYPD, entering a Staten Island store, then quickly jumping over the counter and handcuffing the shopkeeper while cursing at him.

In the video, the shopkeeper asked police for a court order after officers said they were going to do an inspection and enter the back of the store. The officers said they did not need an order and, before the shopkeeper was able to comply with their request to open a gate, police climbed over the counter and pulled him to the center of the store to arrest him.

The man, Kavinda Sethunge, was taken to a police precinct shortly after he was handcuffed and criminally charged with obstruction of government administration. The store, which largely sells paraphernalia like glass pipes and ashtrays along with snacks, is owned by his family.

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Police later found less than a pound of cannabis products in the back of the store and padlocked the shop.

“There was no reason to treat me like that,” Sethunge told THE CITY in a phone call (his brother provided help translating some of his answers). “There’s nothing I was really doing. The only thing I was asking for was a court order, and then they took me to jail.”

The district attorney dismissed the case against Sethunge this Monday.

The bust was part of Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) Operation Padlock to Protect, an initiative that began in May to shut down stores selling cannabis products without a license. The number of unlicensed stores has proliferated across the city since legalization, with some neighborhoods seeing dozens of stores within just a few blocks, THE CITY reported in January.

More robust legislation passed in April empowered local law enforcement officials to padlock stores after an inspection. On Wednesday, Adams announced that nearly 800 shops have been shuttered in three months and $41 million of cannabis products have been seized.

A group of 27 shops filed a lawsuit against the city in June, alleging that law enforcement shutting their businesses before any judicial process had taken place violated the stores’ right to due process. Last month, a judge ruled against the stores, finding that the administrative hearing process is sufficient.

Steve Zissou, an attorney who is representing the Staten Island store, said Sethunge’s family plans to get the padlock off and then surrender the lease to the landlord, giving up the business.

“We want to do another business but we’ve lost a lot of money from this,” Sethunge said. “It’s just a bad situation right now.”

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