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NYPD: Officers on modified duty after botched drug bust, violent arrest caught on video
By
Catalina Gonella
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Apr 15, 2026
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Ben Feuerherd/Gothamist
By
Catalina Gonella
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Apr 15, 2026
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Two NYPD officers have been placed on modified duty after what police are saying was a botched drug bust — an incident that resulted in officers punching and kicking a man they later found was not the suspect they were looking for, police said in a statement.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the two officers’ guns and shields have been removed and called the incident “deeply disturbing” in a social media post after video of the melee surfaced online. In the video, two officers are seen repeatedly punching and kicking a man inside BK Wine Depot on Hoyt Street in Boerum Hill.
“We will have more to say about it as that investigation unfolds,” Tisch said at a press conference on Wednesday. “I understand the community interest in it, because it is an upsetting video.”
An official with the NYPD said the man who was being arrested in the video is not in police custody and was given a desk appearance ticket for resisting arrest. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is planning to dismiss the charge, according to a spokesperson.
The nearly eight-minute video shows police officers struggling with a man in a liquor store.
As the officers try to subdue the man, both officers punch him repeatedly in the face and body. The three men stumble into a shelf of bottles, which fall on the ground and break around them.
Bystanders can be heard yelling at the officers to stop, and blood can be seen on the ground. They then pin the man to the ground and hold him there, while one of the officers kicks him as they wait for backup. They eventually handcuff him and walk him out of the store.
According to an NYPD spokesperson, the arrest was part of an undercover drug-dealing investigation.
Police said in a statement that officers were looking for a man who they had seen working with someone who had previously sold an undercover officer crack cocaine, but the man in the video was not that person. The man subdued was charged with resisting arrest and was released the same day.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the video “extremely disturbing and unacceptable” in a social media post, adding, “Officers should never treat a person this way.”
Other elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, also condemned the actions of the police officers in the video.
Charles Lane contributed reporting.
Tagged
brooklyn
new york city
public safety
Catalina Gonella
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Ben Feuerherd
Ben Feuerherd covers public safety and policing for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered federal courts for The New York Post and The Messenger. His work has also appeared in POLITICO, the Daily Beast and NBC New York. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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