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Video Shows Cop Stealing Man's Money, Then Pepper Spraying Him
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 9, 2014
Modified Oct 9, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 9, 2014
Modified Oct 9, 2014
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An NYPD officer stands accused of stealing more than $1,000 in cash from a Brooklyn man during a police stop.
In a video obtained by the New York Times, an unnamed officer forces 35-year-old Lamard Joye against a fence surrounding a Coney Island basketball court and removes what appears to be a handful of cash from Joye's pocket at the six-second mark.
"You see this? You see this?" Joye says, before demanding his money back. The officer replies, "You're gonna mouth off?" and begins to discharge pepper spray into Joye's face.
Joye's sister also gets pepper sprayed after asking the officer to state his name.
The Post has an embeddable version of the video.
The incident occurred last month as Joye was celebrating his 35th birthday. He was not arrested during the altercation and has not received his money back. Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson told the paper that he is “aware of the alleged incident and it is being actively and thoroughly investigated.”
Joye's lawyer, Robert Marinelli, said that Joye has given the Brooklyn DA his pay stubs and bank records showing that he earned several thousand dollars working construction in September, and had withdrawn some of that money to celebrate with his wife.
“I believe that this officer made an assumption that any money Mr. Joye possessed was obtained illegally and therefore he would not report the theft,” Marinelli said. “This assumption was wrong. Mr. Joye is a hardworking taxpayer. An incident like this would never occur in a more affluent section of the city.”
The NYPD released this statement on the incident:
“The incident was precipitated by a call of a man with a gun. When officers arrived at the scene, they encountered numerous people at the location. As a result of the allegations, the matter is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau and CCRB."
A spokesperson for the CCRB tells us that it appears that the organization has not received the case.
The NYPD's patrol guide stipulates that "pepper spray shall not be used in situations that do not require the use of physical force."
Thee Rant, a message board frequented by active duty and retired police officers, has an interesting comment from user FiftyOneFive Oh on the incident:
I know this cop and he is a solid guy with (if not) 20 years, very close to it.
It is possible that he has even more than 20 years.
I cannot fathom why he is still running around on Patrol. Truly unf u c k i n g believable.
From an OBJECTIVE point of view and NOT KNOWING WHY the cops were called to this scene, I do not know WHY he would remove a wad of money from someone's pocket.
MONEY is not contraband and UNLESS you are collaring someone for robbery, GL or narcotics sales and are going to voucher the money as proceeds of a crime, you have no business WHATSOEVER removing money from a mope's pocket.
I repeat, you have no business taking money out of some mope's pocket because he is a loud mouth involved in a large dispute, which is what this situation appears to be.
That said, I would bet my house that this officer returned the money or vouchered it - he did NOT steal this money.
Spritzing the crowd with mace a la DI Bologna is the cherry on top of the Sundae. In the current climate, that is going to be a problem.
I must say, the daily videos and the daily wholesale suspensions and modifications of MOS have left me exasperated.
It is as if the cops are completely OBLIVIOUS.
Do they read newspapers, do they ever watch TV, do they speak to other cops, do they ever see the Finest spitting out these 'change of duty' statuses?
It would appear that they do not.
It would appear that they are blissfully ignorant of what is going on in the world around them.
It appears that the PBA says and does nothing to raise their awareness that there is an anti-cop feeding frenzy in progress.
I am bewildered as to how this all continues.....
[UPDATE // 11:51 a.m.] A spokesperson for the CCRB says the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau has recently forwarded the incident to the agency for review.
Tagged
brooklyn da
CCRB
coney island
pepper spray
police brutality
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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