Seven months after being recorded kicking the head of an handcuffed suspect in Bed-Stuy, Officer Joel Edouard has been indicted for misdemeanor assault, DNAinfo reports.
The video of the incident, which takes place less than a week after the events surrounding the Eric Garner case, shows another example of the police brutality in the city. In the cell phone video, the officer can be seen pulling out a gun and briefly pointing it at Jahmiel Cuffee’s face. Edouard then puts his gun back in his holster, walks away, and comes back to stomp on Cuffee’s head.
Cuffee was sent to the hospital for neck and head injuries. He was charged with “attempted tampering with evidence, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest,” according to the Daily News (DNAinfo reports that he was charged with “resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and pot possession”), but the charges were eventually dropped.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau responded to the incident by stripping Edouard of his gun and badge and placing him on modified duty.
The misdemeanor charged considered by the jury faces up to one year in prison. Edouard will be arraigned on Tuesday.
