Roughed-up ex-Playmate Stephanie Adams has "no animosity" toward the NYPD

By: Julia Dahl
Topics: Daily Blotter

Stephanie Adams

(Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images)

(CBS) NEW YORK - Stephanie Adams, the former Playboy Playmate who was awarded $1.2 million Tuesday for injuries she incurred at the hands of New York City police officers, says she has "no animosity toward the NYPD" and hopes to become an activist against police brutality.

Pictures: Former Playboy Playmate Stephanie Adams

"I know there is good and bad in every organization," Stephanie Adams, 41, told Crimesider. "I just hope this, along with other people speaking out, will prompt the city to take action against police officers who use excessive force."

Adams, who was Playboy Magazine's Miss November 1992, alleges that she was thrown to the ground and inappropriately touched by officers in 2006 after a taxi driver called 911 and falsely accused her of threatening him with a gun.

According to the New York Daily News, Sgt. John Rajan told the jury the officers "didn't know if she had a firearm," but later admitted that she "was wearing tight-fitting clothing, and there was no place to conceal a weapon."

Aside from being roughed up, Adams says there were several guns pointing at her while she was on the ground and she remembers being afraid that she might be shot.

"I wouldn't wish what happened to me on anyone," she says. "I'm still in daily physical pain. Even picking my son up hurts."

The New York Post reports that one juror told the paper that it was the extent of Adams' injuries that prompted the $1.2 million verdict.

Adams says that she was "in tears" when she learned she'd won her case, and plans to celebrate by spending time with her husband and one-and-a-half year old son.

The number of use-of-force complaints against the NYPD fell between 2006 and 2010, according to Linda Sachs, a spokesperson for the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board. In 2006, the CCRB received 4,090 complaints involving force and substantiated 1.4 percent. In 2010, the Board received 3,273 force complaints and substantiated two percent.

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Ex-Playboy Playmate wins $1.2M for rough treatment by NYPD

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by JLVWALSH February 26, 2012 7:23 PM EST: In New York that's all their has to be is an accusation. There does not need to be proof. It happens time and time again in that state were wrongful convictions by just someone saying it's so. Their is no proof. This is not an isolated incident. It's an ongoing pattern by the justice system in New York. Biurny Peguero who lied about being raped who sent an innocent man to prison. There was DNA evidence that the bite mark on her was from a woman not a male. She came forward years later to tell them she has lied and they did not want to admit their mistake. Saying that the accused must be threatening her from prison. Their was no evidence of a rape period yet the man was convicted of rape. If she never came forward an innocent man would still be in prison. It's massive in New York. Their whole upstate economies are built on prisons. Dateline just did a story last week about another man in prison by questionable eyewitness testimony. It could end up being someone who love convicted of a crime he did not do.; Reply to this comment


by sonny1024 February 25, 2012 6:52 PM EST: so glad she won her case against police abuse.police abuse is running rampant in my town in tn everyday citizens are abused by sadistic and very violent police.one citizen has been hold up in his home for weeks because a LT. in the police dept came to his home and told him ,your going to get a bullet to your head if you make anymore bad comments about MY dept.no help from anyone not even the famed FBI will help this man.neighbors are sneaking him food and water because he fears the police and want go out.very sad to see this happen in a free country like america.; Reply to this comment


by omnibus66 February 23, 2012 8:59 AM EST: "I just hope this, along with other people speaking out, will prompt the city to take action against police officers who use excessive force."

To do that, they would have to fire the whole force. Not a bad idea, though.; Reply to this comment


by amerilatino February 23, 2012 7:10 AM EST: Quite a few angry, h0rny men on this post. Wassamatter fools, got no game, get no sugar?; Reply to this comment

by Burgerbasket February 23, 2012 6:32 AM EST

I wouldn't be upset at the NYPD either if I was given $1.2 million. For that much, they should each get to sleep with her.

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by amerilatino February 23, 2012 7:06 AM EST: Wishful thinking? You probably have semi-moist dreams in where you almost get there, and then an officer of the Dud Police blocks your way and tells you, -"Not even in your dreams, buddy."


by longtree-2009 February 23, 2012 5:24 AM EST: way too much of an award. even with tight clothing a small gun can be hidden such as a two shot derringer. don't they make cavity searches in jails and when some are arrested?; Reply to this comment


by gruven13777100 February 23, 2012 4:04 AM EST: For $1.2 million for a cop putting you on the ground?
I know people permanently disfigured from car accidents
who never got that much.; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey February 23, 2012 1:08 AM EST: [Sgt. John Rajan told the jury the officers "didn't know if she had a firearm," but later admitted that she "was wearing tight-fitting clothing, and there was no place to conceal a weapon."]
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did they not see image #3 in the photo gallery of ms. adams?; Reply to this comment


by wtcmedic911 February 23, 2012 12:24 AM EST: Anyone wonder what she said or did that caused the cab driver to feel she had a gun?
A cabbie isnt in the business of accusing someone of something that can cause them a lot of police grief as well... as well as losing the fare/tip.; Reply to this comment


by jackobyte February 22, 2012 11:10 PM EST: yeah bros if I could be abused for a day a two to make a million,
I might be up for it, but it depends on your definition of abuse don't it?

abu gharib: no
beating (slap around): bring it on
slug thru the head:....; Reply to this comment