An NYPD officer has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty after a shocking video went viral showing him beating up an innocent bystander who witnessed an alleged social distancing violation.
On Saturday, several plainclothes NYPD cops broke up a group of people ignoring social distancing orders and dragged a man to the ground and arrested him in the East Village on Avenue D and 9th Street around 5pm.
Two minutes after the arrest bystanders began to shout and decry the force used by police, prompting Officer Francisco Garcia to threaten the crowd with a stun gun and shout "Get back. Get the f**k back", according to the New York Post. Donni Wright, 33, was a part of that crowd and shouted 'He didn't even do nothing' in shock over the cops' earlier arrest.
"What you flexing for? Don't flex," Garcia, wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, Yankees cap and a belt showing his officer's badge, replied before punching Mr. Wright in the head and assaulting him.
Mr. Wright was arrested on a charge of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, but the video footage of the confrontation sparked outrage over police violence and Garcia has been placed on modified duty and an investigation is ongoing. According to reports, all charges against Mr. Wright have since been dropped.
NYC Mayor de Blasio took to Twitter to publicly discuss the matter: "Saw the video from the Lower East Side and was really disturbed by it. The officer involved has been placed on modified duty and an investigation has begun. The behavior I saw in that video is simply not acceptable."