Tag Archives: did you know

Officer Assaults 11-Year-Old Girl Video has surfaced of a February incident in which an 11-year-old innocent bystander was roughly slammed to the pavement by an NYPD officer. The civil rights lawyer handling the case explains at length what transpired before this officer forcefully manhandled this 6th grader to the ground. Via HuffPost : Take a look at this video, in which a white male New York City police lieutenant grabbed a 6th grade elementary school student of color — big for her age but only 11 years old — around the neck and threw her to the pavement on a Bronx street corner, six months after Eric Garner was wrestled down on a Staten Island pavement. (The video is grainy because it was copied from a surveillance camera onto a phone before the family came to me seeking legal representation; the original surveillance videotape was automatically taped over). Here’s the background. This past February, after school was out for the day, some boys from the school were throwing snowballs at a passing car. When the driver got out to yell at them — and put one of the boys in a headlock — his smartphone fell out of his pocket and another boy picked it up. Upon realizing his phone was gone, the driver chased down one of the boys and threatened to call the police if the phone was not returned, and when it was not forthcoming, he did, apparently using someone else’s phone. This 6th grader — let’s call her Angie — and a classmate were walking from school to the bus stop when they saw some of this. They were bystanders who had nothing to do with either the snowballs or the phone. But as the police arrived, the girls exchanged words as to whether they should stay to watch, or go, and then took off running for a block before stopping. The driver — the man in the white jacket with the knapsack in the video — seeing Angie running, suspected — wrongly — that she was part of the group and had his phone. He approached Angie and asked for his phone. She told him she didn’t have his phone. Shortly thereafter, as the video starts, this police lieutenant crossed the street, motioning for Angie to come toward him, which she did. But instead of engaging her verbally and asking her anything, like her name, or about the phone, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her roughly toward him. Shocked, and scared, we can see her trying to protest, but he does not let go; instead, he escalates the situation, pushing her toward the camera, frightening her even more, and then grabs her around the neck and throws her to the ground, where he rolls her over and rear cuffs her. It was totally unnecessary and gratuitous police violence, borne out of the same disrespect which animated the violence visited upon Mr. Garner. If Angie were white on the Upper East Side rather than Hispanic in the Bronx, would it have happened? Hopefully the family gets everythung they are asking for and more. This young girl is probably traumatized by what happened to her. SMH. YouTube

Here is the original post:
NYPD Officer Caught On Camera Assaulting 11-Year-Old Bronx Girl [Video]