EXCLUSIVE: 'We're not the social distancing police!' Angry NYPD officers blame their orders to enforce separation for causing street brawls between cops and the public - and say it has 'ruined' communities' trust in law enforcement
NYPD efforts to enforce social distancing have sparked a series of violent street confrontations - sabotaging years of hard-earned trust between cops and the communities they serve, police sources tell DailyMail.com.
Everyone from union leaders to street cops say the crackdown puts officers in a precarious situation where their efforts to control crowds provoke outbursts.
Over the past week, videos of several exchanges have gone viral on social media, showing officers in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn struggling to disperse gatherings, at times punching and tackling individuals who resist.
They expect it will only get worse as more people gather outside during the summer months.
'All the hard work we've been doing with community policing is being thrown away now with this social distancing initiative,' one officer told DailyMail.com.
'We're being forced to get in other people's business, confronting people who haven't seen their friends in a month, and telling them what they can and cannot do. That's never going to work. The result is what we have now, people fighting with police.'
There has been a rise in violent fights between police and the public as officers try to enforce social distancing in New York City
NYPD officers tells DailyMail.com that the crackdowns to enforce social distancing put officers in a dangerous situation
Videos have gone viral recently showing brawls between NYPD and the public. One officer used pepper spray to disperse several young people who were refusing to step back, taunting the cops with cameras
'It's going to get more and more violent, and summer's not even here yet,' another officer said.
'Burglaries and homicides are up. Cops can't even focus on that because we're focusing on something that's not even really a crime. It's f****d up. It's really bad. We're not the social distance police,' the second officer said.
One video from Sunday night shows three police officers struggling to arrest a young man in East New York, Brooklyn.
One of the officers punches him in the side of the face, then jumps to his feet and yells at a male bystander to 'Back the f**k up!'
'What are you looking at? You want to go with your friend?' the officer shouts, waving a baton.
'For what?' the man asks, and the cop replies, 'For not wearing a mask.'
'This is MY SON...my heart just broke,' wrote a woman who posted a video of the encounter on Facebook, identifying herself as the mother of the young man on the ground.
One video of the violence had been shared 8,000 times and reposted on Twitter by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
As of late Tuesday, the video had been shared 8,000 times and reposted on Twitter by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) who wrote, 'Police officers aggressively 'enforcing' social distancing in our community. This occurred in East New York last evening. Why are sunbathers who violate social distancing guidelines treated one way and young men in certain communities another? This MUST end,' Jeffries demanded.
Another video, posted Monday, shows NYPD housing cops in The Bronx breaking up a crowd near a playground, and taking down one man who came charging at them in the middle of the street.
One officer used pepper spray to disperse several young people who were refusing to step back, taunting the cops with cameras.
'Oh, look I got all that, you bugging,' one shouted.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea acknowledged Thursday that 'there is a controversy right now' involving cops enforcing social distancing, noting he's been flooded with calls and letters from individuals expressing concerns. He said he's concerned it could damage police efforts in recent years to 'build bridges' with the public. But he said the videos only represent a small fraction of police encounters with the public.
'We're starting to see people come out across this city and we have been enforcing social distancing all over the city, and we have been doing it with an extremely light touch,' Shea said during a news conference.
'If cops in a particular incident were wrong, they're going to hear from me on that,' he added.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked Thursday to address concerns raised by several activists that the enforcement efforts will provoke another Eric Garner-like tragedy. Garner died from a chokehold after cops confronted him for selling loose cigarettes on a street corner in Staten Island in the summer of 2014.
'We're not going to sacrifice saving lives because people are fearful of something that loomed in the past,' the mayor replied.
'We have a new threat that we have to put front and center,' he said, and added, 'We're not going to sideline the NYPD.'
One video from Sunday night shows three police officers struggling to arrest a young man in East New York, Brooklyn
One of the officers punches him in the side of the face, then jumps to his feet and yells at a male bystander to 'Back the f**k up!'
'All the hard work we've been doing with community policing is being thrown away now with this social distancing initiative,' one officer told DailyMail.com
Another video from Saturday shows cops trying to break up a group violating social distancing orders on Fountain and Blake avenues in East New York.
As they struggle to arrest a 32-year-old male, another young man charges at cops from behind. An officer smacks the man in the head, then flips him over on to the pavement, face-down.
'Stand back!' the officer shouts to others who were coming in his direction with cameras.
'He's unconscious!' a bystander screams as the officer places his knee on the man's neck to handcuff him.
The most publicized encounter occurred earlier Saturday, when several plainclothes NYPD cops broke up a group of people ignoring social distancing orders and dragged a man to the ground in the East Village on Avenue D and E. 9th Street around 5pm.
Bystanders began to shout and decry the force used by police in making the arrest, prompting Officer Francisco Garcia to threaten the crowd with a stun gun and shout 'Get the f**k back.'
A man in the crowd — later identified as Donni Wright -- yells back, 'He didn't even do nothing.'
On Saturday around 5pm NYPD plainclothes officers broke up a group of people violating social distancing orders in Manhattan's East Village. The outrage and protest of bystanders led to the arrest of 33-year-old Donni Wright
Donni Wright, 33, was a part of that crowd and shouted 'He didn't even do nothing' in shock over the cops' earlier arrest, leading Garcia to punch him and knock him to the ground
In that social distancing arrest officers were seen bringing a man to the ground and arresting him
Garcia, wearing a Yankees cap and a belt showing his officer's badge, curses at Wright before tackling him and punching his head.
The beatdown led the crowd to scream and shout even more, but Garcia yelled back 'That's right!'
Wright was arrested on charges of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. But the charges have been deferred pending further investigation, a Manhattan District Attorney's Office spokesperson said.
Video footage of the confrontation was shared on social media, prompting Mayor Bill de Blasio to tweet on Sunday, 'The behavior I saw in that video is simply not acceptable.'
'Saw the video from the Lower East Side and was really disturbed by it,' the mayor continued. 'The officer involved has been placed on modified duty and an investigation has begun.'
Last week, the mayor, reacting angrily when thousands of people gathered in Williamsburg for the funeral of a local rabbi, called for the NYPD to start issuing summonses and even arrest people who don't follow orders to disperse.
'This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period,' he tweeted.
As videos of the violent confrontations went public, drawing scrutiny from city officials and the news media, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said, 'The NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether.'
'The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves,' Lynch said Monday. 'Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus,' he said.
Video footage of the confrontation was shared on social media, prompting Mayor Bill de Blasio to tweet on Sunday, 'The behavior I saw in that video is simply not acceptable'
Under the instructions of Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD officers set out on foot, bicycles and in cars to break up crowds and remind those enjoying the weather of public health restrictions requiring they keep 6 feet away from others
On Tuesday, Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeant's Benevolent Association, wrote a letter to his members predicting that the number of these encounters would skyrocket over the summer. He blasted the mayor for placing officers in an 'untenable predicament: you have pitted the public against us while asking that we enforce your mayoral edict.'
The NYPD is investigating several of the videotaped encounters, but police officials stress that the footage leaves out crucial context. Several of the individuals were violently resisting arrest and involved in other criminal activity. In the East Village incident, police recovered a taser, a small amount of marijuana and nearly $3,000 in cash.
One NYPD cop told DailyMail.com these confrontations will continue as long as cops are tasked with enforcing the city's social distancing rules.
'I'm not excusing the cops' bad behavior, but I understand where it's coming from,' the source said.
He noted that more than three dozen members of the NYPD have died from the coronavirus and thousands more have been infected.
'Tensions are high, and cops are aggravated they have to deal with this sh*t,' the officer said. 'It's bad for everybody. It's forcing us into the violent confrontations.'
EXCLUSIVE: 'We're not the social distancing police!' Angry NYPD officers blame their orders to enforce separation for causing street brawls between cops and the public - and say it has 'ruined' communities' trust in law enforcement
![EXCLUSIVE: 'We're not the social distancing police!' Angry NYPD officers blame their orders to enforce separation for causing street brawls between cops and the public - and say it has 'ruined' communities' trust in law enforcement]()
Reviewed by Your Destination
on
May 08, 2020
Rating:
No comments