Viral video shot on Wednesday shows New York police officers violently taking down a Brooklyn pedestrian after he asked repeatedly what crime he had committed, receiving no response. A comedian who goes by the name Velvet originally captured the footage on her cellphone and shared it on Twitter. Although the subject of the video has not been identified yet, the footage has since been viewed more than 2.7 million times. Velvet said in a series of tweets that the incident happened at about 7:50 PM, more than an hour before a park in the residential area of Canarsie was set to close at 9 PM. She said the incident started as an encounter between the pedestrian and an officer in plainclothes. “At first I thought it was two random guys and one guy was man handling the other so I was about to cross the street and then I saw the cop’s gun so I stopped my music and I heard the guy say can you identify yourself and that’s when I pulled out my phone,” she tweeted.
The video started with the officer holding one arm against the pedestrian’s chest while he asked repeatedly what he had done wrong. "I didn't commit a crime, so can you get off of me," the man said. "You did commit a crime," the officer responded and continued holding the man. At one point, the man explained to the person filming that the officer saw him in the park and started following him. “Why are you following me?” he later asked. “Can you answer my question? Look me in my eyes. I’m talking to you.” He moved his hands slightly as he spoke, but they remained up at his shoulders for the most part, with his palms flat and open. “Stop moving,” the officer shouted at one point. The pedestrian explained that he had just come from work, and he asked the officer what the problem was.
“What crime did I commit? Tell me, what crime did I commit?” he said. Velvet, who continued to record, suggested he ask if he was being detained. Instead, he tried to explain to her what had happened, and the officer again shouted, “Stop moving!” The pedestrian asked if he was about to be shot with a Taser, and seconds later other officers ran to the scene. They shouted orders and wrestled the pedestrian to the ground, and it wasn’t long before he was letting out repeated screams. “Help me!” the man yelled. “What is he doing?” Another onlooker who appeared off camera screamed, “Oh my God! Look at this one. Why would they do that?” The video ends at two minutes and 20 seconds, but Velvet recorded other clips. She said in one clip that the cops “went BACK to FIND whatever he ALLEGEDLY had.” In another clip, Velvet yelled, “Do you want us to call somebody?” It’s unclear how he responded.
The New York Police Department hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment. Media analyst and criminal defense lawyer Rebecca Kavanagh said in several Twitter messages that the takedown was uncalled-for. “Regardless of the reason for the stop (because I am sure NYPD will come up with a reason like a report of a gun) there is no possible justification for this horrific use of violence,” Kavanagh said in one tweet. “This young man is clearly terrified, because he is being held at gunpoint by a cop (who doesn't even identify as a cop). Like anyone would be. But he is fully cooperative. He doesn't do anything that would have needed more than one cop to calmly arrest him,” Kavanagh added. The attorney said the incident, though unfortunate, is “not extraordinary.” “So many young people I represent describe being arrested like this,” she tweeted. She added in another message, “I often think that police brutality against Black and Brown people on NYC subways has really just made more visible this sort of police violence that has always existed in Black and Brown communities. White people are now more cognizant of it. But it is nothing new.”
Thursday, Mar 5, 2020 · 6:44:26 PM +00:00
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Lauren Floyd
Velvet tweeted a statement from a New York Police Department spokesperson and an update about the victim, who she identified as Vincent Carter, Thursday. Authorities said in the statement that anti-crime officers from the 69th precinct were patrolling at about 7 p.m. near a playground at Glenwood Road when they “observed two males inside the park smoking a lit marijuana cigarette and as the officers approached the individuals” fled. “Upon apprehension, one individual was arrested, and the second individual was issued a summons,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “This incident is currently under internal review.” Velvet said Carter’s brother is still waiting for the man to get out of the precinct.