Internal agency reports reveal there is more to a scuffle where officers were caught on video snatching a child out of a mother’s arms in New York on Dec. 7.
Jazmine Headley, 23, allegedly used her 18-month-old son as a shield to avoid arrest, bit a peace officer, kicked a peace officer supervisor and was verbally abusive, according to Human Resources Administration (HRA) witness statements obtained by the New York Daily News.
The reports come after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio apologized to Headley at a weekly conference Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
“What happened to Jazmine Headley and her son Damone should never have happened, should never happen to anybody,” de Blasio said, according to TheNYT.
“What I say has to be definitive,” added de Blasio, a Democrat.
The video showed Headley on the floor as New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers tried to pull the toddler out her arms as she screamed, “You’re hurting my son. You’re hurting my son!” Headley was at the HRA office in Brooklyn to find out why daycare vouchers had been stopped for her son.
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Jacqueline Jenkins, Headley’s mother, said police officers told her daughter she was blocking the hallway after sitting on the floor with her son. Jenkins added there were no empty seats in the office.
But reports say there were empty seats and the child was in his stroller when the incident started, according to the Daily News.
“She put the baby between her legs in a tight grip,” one of the documents claimed, the Daily News reported. “NYPD officers tried to get the baby off her but she was putting up a fight.”
Another witness statement said Headley “intentionally used her toddler son as a shield” once she knew police were coming. (RELATED: De Blasio Has A Plan To Diversify Elite Schools In NYC. Parents Are Suing)
The incident allegedly started before noon after Headley had been waiting in the office for four hours, according to the Daily News. Reports show she was asked to move multiple times, but resisted.
“She was saying, ‘Don’t fucking get close to me. Get out of my fucking face, b—h,'” one of the statements said, the Daily News reported.
While an HRA peace officer suggested detaining Headley, the peace officer supervisor was concerned about the baby’s safety and did not want to make the situation more serious, according to the Daily News.
Two peace officers are on modified desk duty until the investigation is complete, the Daily News reported.
The mayor’s press officer did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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