New York Mayor Eric Adams said that several police officers who helped arrest a man in Brooklyn have been put on “modified assignment” after they were caught on video punching the man several times.
Adams, a former captain of the NYPD, said, “Adrenaline is real” when asked why the cops used so much force.
A video on social media shows at least two police officers hitting the man while people shout and try to stop them. A police officer pulls out a Taser and keeps the people nearby away while two other officers fight the man between two stopped cars. The man seems to swing at one of the police cops at one point.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said that around 9:34 p.m. on July 4, police tried to stop someone from setting off fireworks and pointing them at apartment windows. Police say the person ran away, and a 27-year-old man named Shaquan Davis stepped in front of them and pushed an officer, stopping them from chasing the person. Police say that Davis fought back against being arrested by “pushing, shoving, wrestling, flailing his arms, and punching the officer.”
According to the police, Davis, who lives in Brooklyn, hit a police officer, resisted arrest, obstructing government operation, assault with intent to cause physical harm, disorderly conduct, and harassment. He was arrested. He has to go to court on Oct. 7. Jonathan Fink, Davis’s lawyer, said that Davis was freed on his recognizance and rejects any wrongdoing. Fink said that his point of view is that cops beat him up.
Adams’s spokeswoman told NBC News about things he said on a radio show Wednesday morning.
Jones, host of 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy in the Morning,” asked Adams about the video. Adams said he had seen it and that Police Commissioner Edward Caban had “immediately placed” the officers on a different assignment. When an officer’s job is changed, they usually lose their gun and are put in charge of something other than police.
Adams said, “They’re going to look into it carefully and find out what happened.” As someone who has the power to take someone’s freedom, there should be a lot of responsibility and oversight that comes with it. I have a lot of faith in Commissioner Caban because he worked his way up through the ranks and his dad was a strong supporter of diversity in the Police Department.
He also said, “We’re going to look into this, and it will be looked into properly. If those officers are found to have done something wrong, they will be held accountable.” We don’t play the game. We will support our police, but they need to help the people they are in charge of.
Jones asked him why the cops felt “so comfortable” and “so empowered” to act the way they did if they knew people were filming them.
“That’s a great question. I believe it’s a mix of several things.” There is such a thing as energy, and people get caught up in it. “That’s why we’re always telling them to come back,” Adams said. “When you’re a police officer, you get emotional and stop thinking and just reacting, which is how you make those mistakes.”
This week, the police department was also criticized for a five-second video that a city councilman shared with X on Tuesday. In it, an officer is seen punching a man in the face while his hands are behind him, and seems to be restrained.
Brooklyn is where that movie was shot. At about 3:42 a.m. Friday, a guy was stopped “because of an amplified sound from a portable speaker,” according to a police spokesperson. Police say he was told more than once to turn off the speaker but did not listen. Police say that when they took the speaker away, he got angry, stepped in front of them, and tried to grab it from them. Police say they told him several times to stay on the curb and not get in the way of officers, and he refused to be arrested when they tried to. Lamark Wyche, 44, of Brooklyn, was arrested on charges of obstructing government operations and making excessive noise. Wyche said the charges against him have been dropped. His lawyer did not respond right away to calls for comment.
The NYPD didn’t say who the officers were in either film.
The Coney resident and community leader who shared the video on X said, “Over many years, the community and residents have worked very hard to build trust and respect between the police and the community.” “Our neighborhood cares about public safety.” It’s not safe to punch people in the face when their hands are behind their backs, and being against police abuse doesn’t mean you’re against cops. Situations like this make things worse and set everything back.
“We hold the men and women of the NYPD to the highest standards, and we are reviewing the incident,” a City Hall member said.