Monday, May 4, 2020

Investigation for excessive force demanded after social-distancing arrests on Avenue D

An NYPD officer has been placed on modified duty following an ugly confrontation on Saturday afternoon when an attempt to enforce social distancing rules escalated on Avenue D at Ninth Street.

A passerby shot a now-viral video of the encounter. Gothamist spoke with him:

Witness Daquan Owens, who took the video below, said the incident started after plainclothes officers approached a man and a woman talking outside a deli around 5:30 p.m. and ordered them to separate. But Owens says the two people were maintaining a six foot distance in accordance with rules intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.

"They were social distancing," Owens said in a telephone interview on Sunday. "The girl was standing by the phone booth, the guy was sitting on a milk crate. When the cops pulled up she said he’s not doing anything. They grabbed her and started tussling with her. Then the guy on the milk crate got mad and started yelling at police."

Here's a narrative of the video below:

Owens's video begins as several plainclothes officers attempt to handcuff two people outside the deli at the northeast corner of Avenue D and East 9th Street. At roughly the 35 second mark of the video, one of the officers turns and advances on bystander Donni Wright, 33, pointing a taser at him. Owens says the officer called Wright the n-word, which can be heard at the 37 second mark, and Wright can be heard asking the officer if he used the racial epithet.

"Move the fuck back right now," the officer shouts. "Don’t flex."

Also in circulation: Security footage showing the start of the incident...

According to the Times:

The police said that one man, Shakiem Brunson, was holding a bag of marijuana and became aggressive toward the officers, who moved to arrest him. While he was being handcuffed, a woman, Ashley Serrano, tried to intervene, the police said, and was also arrested.

Donni Wright, a groundskeeper for the NYCHA these past 10 years, was also arrested, and charged with assaulting a police officer.

[Donni Wright, pictured on the street]

The Times identified the officer in the Yankees cap as Francis X. Garcia, who is now on modified duty pending an internal investigation.

The city has paid out at least $182,500 to settle lawsuits involving Garcia, an eight-year veteran who works in the Housing Bureau, the Times uncovered.

As NBC 4 pointed out, the incident "has caught the attention of activists and New York City leaders who have demanded the city enact fair and uniform enforcement of social distancing across all communities."

Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera is demanding an investigation into the use of excessive force.

Meanwhile, David Rankin, a civil rights lawyer representing Wright, told the Times that "the arrest fit within the police department’s long history of violating people’s rights to observe an arrest and called on the officer to be investigated 'fully, quickly, and thoroughly.'"

"The idea that he is doing this without any gloves and no masks, and using profanity and racially charged language, is just completely unacceptable," he said.


sophocles said...

Does Officer Garcia expect the entire city to stand back when he is working? By all appearances his response to the bystander was hpyeraggressive. The man needs a long vacation.

Anonymous said...

Now what if retracts the virus because he was dragged across the floor like that? NYPD always act before thinking.

Anonymous said...

A long vacay? How about being terminated.

Anonymous said...

This is nuts. A few blocks away the - let's face it mostly white - people are having sidewalk happy hour on the steps of the closed Tompkins Square exercise area. Social drinking while not distancing. The cops themselves are having not-social-distanced conversations with passersby while on foot patrol. Groups of friends are meeting up to drink coffee outside, figuring two feet is social distancing, right? as long as the mask is displayed prominently below your chin. Less and less masks are evident on walkabouts.

Enforcing social distancing in the East Village is out of the NYPD's wheelhouse. Starting and escalating drama on Avenue D is not.

Before anyone says it's a tough job and the cops are under pressure protocols for this new reality need to be put in place from the top down. I'm not advocating enforcing social distancing, I don't think it would work, but a blizzard of fines for no-mask would make a point and change behavior, but only if it was applied to all citizens, regardless of neighborhood and demographic. But that's not New York City.

There was talk of closing some city streets to make more room for pedestrians. Or, let's be realistic, more room for speeding electric delivery bikes. This is long overdue but would require a larger police footprint for a while to calm the most aggressive of the powered delivery squads.

Anonymous said...

and yet over at the Christopher Street Piers there are photos and video of numerous people not wearing masks nor social distancing, and it can be observed there are police ignoring all the violations. Hmm, what could possibly be the difference between those violating social distancing rules in a park off the West Village and those (possibly) violating outside a bodega on Ave D?!??

noble neolani said...

I spotted a lot of people this past weekend without masks, walking standing closely together but none of them physically looked the like thee victims of Police abuse, if you get what I mean.

Bad cops like this need to get fired immediately, they are a stain on all the decent copes out there.

Anonymous said...

This is around the block from Garcia's station, makes me think he doesn't go too far out of his way to start trouble when he feels like it. And he's not wearing a mask or gloves, getting in people's faces like that. One bad cop ruining the reputation of the whole department.

Anonymous said...

The city paid out 182,500 in lawsuits, in eight years since Garcia been a cop. That is a lot of money. He should not be a cop anymore, too dangerous and costly to keep him.

Anonymous said...

This cop is a repeat offender and should not be on patrol period. Also, I happened to walk down Avenue D on Friday and it was next level, it was not like a few blocks away on B, the sidewalks were crowded more crowded than anywhere I have seen with various levels of wearing and not wearing masks & people sitting on the sidewalk looking at phones - it was so crowded that I had to walk on the street before I turned off. It was the most people I have seen on an east village street in years.

Anonymous said...

East River Park meanwhile had people violating every rule, while cops stood by with a large sign telling everybody to socially distance and wear masks.

Anonymous said...

The issue is institutional, not just one bad apple. Can't wait for him to get a strong enough slap on the wrist to appease the public, only to be put back on the streets to "protect & serve" once the outrage settles down.

Anonymous said...

really sad to see I usually try not to go this road, seams like there is some racial profiling going on, What happened to this man, people is disgraceful. I could not watch videos, photo was enough. And why did Cuomo allow places to sell drinks, happy hour all over EV stoops and no social distancing and no enforcement. Thanks for the reporting E.V.

Anonymous said...

And yet NYPD isn’t doing anything about the big crowd which mostly consists of white people in parks.

There were HUGE gatherings at the Hudson River Park this weekend - they were definitely not social distancing. It’s the same at East River Park, Tompkins Square Park and Washington Square Park. All NYPD did was hand out free masks and gloves, nothing more. White privilege drives me crazy.

Dan said...

Agree with all of the others. This is an absolute disgrace and can only mean that this officer was given an okay from his precinct commander whoever that is to do this. Risky, outrageous and indefensible.

Anonymous said...

The security camera footage contradicts NBC's description of events. There was no group to disperse. There was one woman standing near one seated man who may well have been the prescribed six feet from each other.
Avenue D has been a world unto itself with police surveillance and Stalag 17 style lighting, well before the pandemic. The police presence is overwhelming and heavy handed. Their Avenue D eyes in the sky unit is always surrounded by mounds of garbage and ridiculous amounts of barricades designed to isolate and intimidate residents. It's indicative of their disdain for everyone who lives here. I've literally watched them throw bags of garbage from their vehicle's window. You can't cross the street at this contraptions location. It has the feel of a jail yard, rather than a high rise residential community.
The level of aggression used here is is wildly unacceptable.

Born on 6 Street 1 and 2 Ave 1951 said...

Found tazer and $3,000.00 cash??

Anonymous said...

Nothing like the contradiction of enforcing social distancing by manhandling a person body to body and then dragging them across the floor. I guess police brutality doesn’t care about Covid-19