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Video: Cops Suspended After Beating Handcuffed Perp
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 21, 2010
Modified Jan 21, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 21, 2010
Modified Jan 21, 2010
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A rookie Bronx cop and a second officer have been suspended and may face criminal charges after video surfaced showing them assaulting a handcuffed man on January 5th. The beating took place after two cops were wounded by a ricocheting bullet fired by a third officer chasing a drug suspect, whose pit bull had pounced at them. An area resident took the video (below) from a nearby apartment, but maybe it's nothing to get worked up about, because one NYPD source says, "It wasn't as bad as Rodney King."
It's also being reported that two NYPD sergeants looked on and did nothing as rookie Officer John Cicero attacked the unidentified perp, who had just told Cicero "that it should have been him who should have been shot and killed." After that zinger, "he's punching and kicking him when he's on the ground handcuffed," says the Post's source. A second officer, William Green, is also seen on the video allegedly throwing a punch at the handcuffed man. Green was suspended yesterday, but only after the NYPD erroneously suspended a different officer who wasn't even at the scene.
Instead of putting it on YouTube or sending it to tips(at)gothamist(dot)com, the person who shot the video brought it to the Bronx DA's Office, which opened a criminal investigation. The two sergeants who failed to stop the beating have been placed on modified desk duty, and Internal Affairs is conducting a probe. In lieu of this video, here's another one of a cop accidentally spraying himself in the face with pepper spray, then beating a handcuffed woman who was caught riding her bike on the sidewalk:
Tagged
assault
beating
bronx
cops
drug bust
friendly fire
nypd
police brutality
video
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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