A video making the rounds Monday on social media appears to shows a bystander being hit in the face and apprehended by an NYPD officer in Manhattan while officers were trying to break up a group of people who weren’t socially distancing.
The video shows officers in plainclothes apprehending one person, allegedly over violating social distancing rules. A small crowd gathered and one bystander approached the scene. This prompts another officer to approach the man and tell him to move back while pointing a taser at him.
“Move the fuck back. What you flexing for?” the officer said.
Then, the man took a step closer to the officer, prompting him to strike the man in the face and shoulder and arrest him with another officer.
NYPD Officers continue to terrorize us amid the Covid-19 Epidemic, WE WANT JUSTICE. Asking leaders to stand up for us
Avenue D and 9th st, Lower East Side@NYCMayor @NYPDCommAffairs @CMCarlinaRivera @NYCMayorsOffice @NBCNewYork @ABC@PIX11News @NYDailyNews @HarveyforNY pic.twitter.com/3p2MbEZ1w0— Temitope Johnson (@afroshaped) May 3, 2020
In an email to The Daily Caller, the NYPD said that the incident took place on Saturday after officers noticed a group of people “standing on the corner of Avenue D and East 9 Street in violation of social distancing orders.”
“Officers instructed the group disperse and while most complies, some refused. As officers approached, they observed a bag of alleged marijuana in plain view. Subject #1 immediately became aggressive towards officers and resisted arrest. While attempting to effect this arrest, Subject #2 attempted to intervene and prevent the arrest of Subject #1 and was also placed under arrest.”
The statement appears to address the confrontation shown on video, saying that he “took a fighting stance.”
“A third individual was ordered by an officer to disperse and this male took a fighting stance against the officer and was also taken into custody,” the NYPD told The Caller.
The NYPD also indicated that an “investigation is under internal review.”
This incident comes after police officers in Philadelphia ripped a man off of a bus for not wearing a mask. (RELATED: WATCH: Man In Medical Mask Sucker Punches Police Officer In NYC)