After video of a group of police officers harassing a man over an allegedly unpaid bus fare received tens of thousands of shares on Facebook and significant media coverage, the NYPD said it would investigate the incident.
The clip shows a man being arrested after getting off the Bx12 bus Sunday. The cops seem to believe he didn’t pay his bus fare, though the man protests his innocence, and bystanders say he has his receipt. Two officers violently restrain him when he tries to stand up, and after a while, many more cops arrive, tackling him and holding him to the ground as he pleads with them to stop. It’s upsetting to watch.
The Daily News reports that the local precinct commander is looking into the video. Knowing the NYPD, I can’t imagine it will get much further than that. This would be a good time for Bill de Blasio to demonstrate that all that campaign talk about police reform wasn’t just lip service.
(Photo: @Sean MacEntee)
