Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell have dodged being deposed in a wide-ranging legal action against the city over how cops handled protesters in 2020, according to a ruling Monday.

But former Mayor Bill de Blasio and ex-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea may still have to give depositions, Manhattan federal court Judge Gabriel Gorenstein added during a telephone hearing in the case. 

Lawyers for protesters and others suing the city – including the New York Attorney General’s Office – had sought sworn testimony from Adams and Sewell on current NYPD tactics and policies to compare the information to what was in place in the summer of 2020. 

But Gorenstein said Monday that he hadn’t “gotten any indication we have to go that high” to get a clear understanding of how policies have changed since 2020. 

Lawyers for the protesters had wanted to particularly grill Adams over statements he made last year about civilians filming police officers while they’re on duty, lawyer Remy Green said at the hearing. 

“Stop being on top of my police officers while they’re carrying out their jobs,” Adams said at a press briefing in March 2022. “That is not acceptable, and it won’t be tolerated.” 

Green said the statement by Adams is key to one of the suits against the city related to the NYPD’s behavior at demonstrations in 2020.

Gorenstein said he did not yet feel comfortable ruling on whether de Blasio or Shea should be required to testify in the case and asked lawyers from both sides to submit more letters detailing their arguments supporting their positions. 

The legal action in federal court is a consolidation of a number of lawsuits that were filed after George Floyd protests spread across the city in the summer of 2020. 

The case included a class-action suit filed on behalf of protesters corralled, beaten and pepper-sprayed by NYPD officers in the Bronx.

That suit was settled last week, with the city agreeing to pay protesters $21,500 each – or more than $6 million total.

A rep for the city Law Department declined comment on the ruling Monday.