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NYPD officer on trial for punching man more than a dozen times on camera
By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 14, 2025
Modified Jan 14, 2025
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Via NYPD body camera video
By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 14, 2025
Modified Jan 14, 2025
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An "out of control" NYPD officer used excessive force when he punched a man 13 times inside a Harlem apartment, Manhattan prosecutors said during closing statements in his criminal trial Tuesday.
Christian Zapata, 37, pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault after he repeatedly punched Jerome Collins’ face and neck while responding to a call about a child with special needs in emotional distress in December 2022, according to court records.
Zapata’s case is a rare example of a police officer facing criminal charges for using force against a civilian. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has prioritized criminal prosecutions of officers accused of misconduct, and his Police Accountability Unit has convicted more than 20 people since he took office.
Justice Curtis Farber — not a jury — will decide whether Zapata harmed Collins without justification. If convicted of the charge, which is a class A misdemeanor, the officer could spend up to 364 days in jail.
On the day of the incident, Collins was in Harlem visiting his son, who lived in an apartment there with his mother and half-brother, according to court records. EMS and police came to the apartment after receiving a call for assistance about the other child, court papers state.
Body camera footage of the incident shows Collins pleading with officers to put on face masks so his son wouldn’t get sick. Police told Collins that he was interfering with their work and urged him to leave the apartment. When Collins wouldn’t leave right away, the video shows, Officer Miguel Acevedo nudged him down the hallway. Collins swatted the officer away.
“Do that again. Do that again,” Acevedo can be heard saying while Collins holds his own hands up and says “Stop touching me.”
Then, Acevedo grabbed Collins’ wrists and Zapata punched him over and over for about 10 seconds, until another officer at the scene stepped between them. The officers handcuffed and arrested him, but prosecutors declined to press charges.
Assistant District Attorney Tavish DeAtley told the judge that no reasonable officer would have used that much force. He said Collins may have been annoying, frustrating or even a nuisance, but that he “posed absolutely no threat.”
“Nothing Mr. Collins actually did could possibly have led the defendant to reasonably believe he needed to pummel Mr. Collins the way he did.”
DeAtley said the punches left a cut under Collins’ eye and caused his face to swell. In the courtroom, he projected still shots of the body camera footage, which he said showed blood pooling in Collins’ mouth and a tear rolling down his cheek. The prosecutor also said Zapata later told hospital staff that he had pain in his hand from punching someone in the face.
“The defendant hit Mr. Collins so hard that he fractured a bone in his hand,” he said.
Defense attorney Andrew Quinn said in his closing statement that Collins was acting “irate” and that Zapata used an appropriate amount of force to protect Acevedo. He said his client was forced to act after Acevedo escalated the situation by taunting Collins and grabbing his wrists.
“He handled his job in a textbook manner,” Quinn said. “He didn’t commit a crime. There’s no evidence he committed a crime.”
The defense attorney also criticized prosecutors for not calling Collins as a witness. If they had, Quinn said, Collins would have “completely blown up their case” by testifying that he wanted to fight the officers.
“This case is all about District Attorney Bragg’s war on cops,” he said.
DeAtley said Collins wasn’t available, and that his testimony would have duplicated what’s already clear in the video.
“You know exactly what happened,” the prosecutor told the judge. “You saw it.”
Collins sued the city in 2023, alleging that officers used excessive force and wrongfully arrested him. His civil attorney, Neil Wollerstein, said they recently settled for $300,000.
During a deposition in 2023, Collins said the incident caused “a lot of pain” — not just physically.
“I was humiliated,” he said. “I’m afraid of police. I lost a lot of sleep. I was depressed.”
Wollerstein said Collins and his family were seeking medical help for a child with special needs but instead were met with police officers who “amped up the situation.”
“The conduct, as seen in the video, is so reprehensible and inexcusable,” he said. “There’s no explanation for it.”
Zapata was promoted to sergeant a few months before the incident but was later demoted and re-assigned to a unit that monitors surveillance footage, according to NYPD records. A department spokesperson said after publication that Zapata has retired but did not provide additional comment.
This story has been updated with additional information from the NYPD.
Tagged
new york city
public safety
manhattan
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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