Mom-of-three protester sues NYC over ‘bogus’ terror charges, claims NYPD, Adams fueled accusations

A mom who cops tried to charge with terrorism after her protest of the release of Daniel Penny is suing the city for at least $2.5 million, claiming the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams fueled accusations against her.

Kimberly Bernard, 35, of Manhattan says top city police brass and Hizzoner perpetuated the “bogus” terrorism charge against her in public statements and social-media posts after she was cuffed while protesting that Penny had not yet been charged in the subway chokehold death of disturbed homeless man Jordan Neely.

The mother of three says the public officials’ misdeeds included sharing a picture of a Molotov cocktail they claimed she and others brought to the May 2023 protest in Manhattan.

Bernard says she knows nothing about anyone having a Molotov cocktail and was never charged over it.

She told The Post on Monday that when a detective informed of the pending terrorism charge against her as she sat in a cell, “I was absolutely terrified.

“I thought I was going away for a very long time for such a serious charge. It’s a scary thought,” said the plaintiff, whose suit was filed in Manhattan federal court last week.

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Prosecutors dropped the terrorism charge against her hours later and instead left only minor infractions against Bernard, a full-time mom. The entire case was dropped a month later.

Despite the dropping of the charges, Bernard’s anxiety, depression and fear following having her name associated as a terrorism suspect remain, she says.

“While you’re sitting there in your cell, you don’t know if you’re going to be going to prison for a very long time,” she said. “And with the understanding that you have not done anything wrong — that makes it even more frustrating.”

Bernard was arrested on the evening of May 8 as she waited near a downtown police precinct to provide “jail support” for demonstrators who had been arrested — some who are also suing the city — earlier that evening at a protest held for Neely near the Broadway-Lafayette subway station where he was killed.

As she stood on the sidewalk, an assistant NYPD chief grabbed her arms and shoved her into a brick building, her suit states. Bernard said she obeyed all orders and did not resist arrest. She spent the next nearly 23 hours in police custody.

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Cops initially slapped her with a terrorism charge, but prosecutors declined to take the arresting officer’s suggestion, instead filing minor misdemeanors against her. The charges were dismissed against her that June.

One of Bernard’s lawyers, Masoud Mortazavi, said he and his client have no idea where the initial terrorism rap came from.

“That’s part of what we want to get to the bottom of,” the lawyer said.

Top police officials and Mayor Adams held a press conference and displayed “fabricated” evidence of a Molotov cocktail, the suit says, suggesting that she and other protesters “intended to engage in violent or terroristic conduct.”

While the suit states damages of $2.5 million, that number can grow as the legal process proceeds, her camp said.

Her suit notes that the NYPD’s public-information office sent out her name and address, stating that she had been arrested on terrorism — even after the district attorney’s office declined to pursue the terror charges.

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“I felt unsafe in my own home with my own children,” she told The Post. “I was feeling very paranoid every time the doorbell rang. It was a very scary time.”

Her suit adds, “NYPD members repeatedly, publicly, and intentionally accused Ms. Bernard of terrorism-related conduct, despite full knowledge that this allegation was false, and even after this arrest charge was rejected by the reviewing prosecuting agency, the New York County District Attorney’s Office.”

Confusingly, the original NYPD press release appears to associate her arrest with a separate protest on the Upper East Side.

Bernard contrasts that with the information police shared about Penny. Just his name and a single charge was included, not his address, according to the suit, and he was allowed to walk away from the scene and turn himself in weeks after Neely’s death. He was eventually charged in the case.

“It’s clear that the Department’s priority was not transparency or public safety, but rather retaliation against community organizers like Ms. Bernard for the content of their speech,” said her other lawyer, MK Kaishian.

The lawsuit is claiming excessive force, fabrication of evidence, first amendment retaliation and violation of her fair trial rights.

A rep for the NYPD declined to comment on pending litigation. A representative for the city’s Law Department also declined to comment.

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