Ava DuVernay Is Getting Sued Over The Netflix Film ‘When They See Us’
Director Ava DuVernay is being sued by John E. Reid and Associates, the company that created a controversial police interrogation technique in the late 1940s, which has been used by police departments ever since.
The Reid Technique is mentioned in the fourth episode of the Netflix series When They See Us, a miniseries about the Centra Park jogger case that falsely accused five Black teenagers of the violent rape of a white woman. Years later, thanks to DNA evidence, they were all found to be innocent. The technique continues to offer training courses to law enforcement for the last 60 years. According to the company, it is the most widely used interrogation method by police agencies worldwide.
However, activists claim the Reid Technique often results in false confessions.
The series was released by Netflix in May. In the scene, a character confronts NYPD detective Michael Sheehan with allegations that he coerced a confession out of the five defendants.
“You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision,” the character states in When They See Us. “The Reid Technique has been universally rejected.”
Michael replies to the character, “I don’t even know what the f—ing Reid Technique is, OK? I know what I was taught. I know what I was asked to do and I did it.”
In the lawsuit, the company claims the dialogue mischaracterizes the Reid Technique, saying it does not involve coercion: “Defendants intended to incite an audience reaction against Reid for what occurred in the Central Park Jogger Case and for the coercive interrogation tactics that continue to be used today,” the suit states, according to Page Six. “Defendants published the statements in ‘When They See Us’ in an effort to cause a condemnation of the Reid Technique.”
It’s clear that the technique led to a false confession in the Central Park case. But as for Ava’s case, Lady Justice will certainly decide. (And we hear she has a Netflix subscription.)