The NYPD says one police officer has been
suspended without pay and another has been placed on modified duty after a
video surfaced of them punching and hitting a 16-year-old drug suspect in the
face with a gun in Brooklyn while the teen had his hands up to surrender.
The surveillance footage, which was
originally obtained by DNAInfo.com, shows the officers catch up to the teen
after a brief chase in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As the suspect stops running one
officer throws a punch at his face. Then the other officer hits him with his
gun after the teen raises his hands in the air.
The teenager was arrested Aug. 29.
Prosecutors said the teen ended up pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and
was released.
But the teen's lawyer said officers had no
reason to stop him in the first place
"My client was leaving a friend's
apartment, he committed absolutely no crime, he did absolutely nothing wrong,
and these officers decided to chase him," said Amy Rameau. "They
chased him and they brutalized him."
"You don't get to stop anyone you feel
like stopping in the streets when there's no probable cause," she said.
The two officers, who are from the 79th
Precinct, are being investigated by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and
Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson.
"What's depicted on this video is
troubling and warrants a thorough investigation," Thompson said in a
statement.
A police union official, Patrick Lynch,
called the video misleading because it doesn't show how the teenage suspect was
caught with drugs and tried to get away.
"As usual, the video fails to capture
the offense that resulted in police action or the lengthy foot pursuit that
culminated in the arrest," Lynch said. "Situations like this one
happen in real time under great stress. It's very easy to be judgmental in the
comfort of an office while sitting in front of a video screen."
