[a] Authorities accused Salaam, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray and Raymond Santana of assaulting her; the five teenagers—of Black and Latino race—became known as the "Central Park Five," later the "Exonerated Five."

[6] His conviction was vacated in 2002 and in 2014 New York City paid $41 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by the Exonerated Five.

[7] Following his release in 1997, Salaam worked as a construction worker in an apartment complex in the Mitchell–Lama Housing Program on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.

[11] He won the Democratic primaries on July 5, replacing outgoing councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan and defeating assemblymembers Inez Dickens and Al Taylor.

He was on a business call with several of his colleagues including City Council member Sandy Nurse, who heard the entire police interaction.

Salaam asked why he had been stopped but the officer, on hearing that he was a council member on business, cut off the interaction and walked away saying, "Take care, sir."

[17] He is portrayed as an adult by Chris Chalk and as a child by Ethan Herisse in filmmaker Ava DuVernay's television miniseries When They See Us.