Violent arrest raises concerns about NYPD distancing patrols

Officer’s behavior in video ‘simply not acceptable,’ mayor says

NEW YORK — A New York City police officer who was caught on video Saturday pointing a stun gun at a man and violently taking him to the ground over an alleged social distancing violation has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty pending an internal investigation.

Bystander video showed the plainclothes officer, who was not wearing a face mask, slapping 33-year-old Donni Wright in the face, punching him in the shoulder and dragging him to a sidewalk after leveling him in a crosswalk in Manhattan’s East Village.

“The behavior I saw in that video is simply not acceptable,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Sunday. He said earlier in the day that there will be a careful look into what happened.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Frances O’Donnell said Wright “took a fighting stance against the officer” when he was ordered to disperse and was arrested on charges including assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

The charges have been deferred pending investigation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.

A message seeking comment was left with the police officers union.

Wright’s arrest and that of two other people minutes earlier on the same block across from a public housing complex raised new questions about the New York Police Department’s use of force, the role of officers in enforcing social distancing measures and inconsistency in how they’re applied.

The manner of Wright’s arrest appeared to echo that of 20-year-old Fitzroy Gayle, who was seen on bystander video pleading for help as several officers wrestled him into submission on a Brooklyn sidewalk in early March.

Jennvine Wong, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project, said video of the arrests Saturday stood in sharp contrast to photos and video — including some tweeted by the Police Department — showing officers in crowded city parks handing out face masks and gently reminding people to stay 6 feet apart.

“This certainly isn’t the first time and this isn’t even the first time in this pandemic that we’ve seen evidence of discriminatory policing by the NYPD,” Wong said.

Carolyn Martinez-Class, of the police watchdog Communities United for Police Reform, said: “This incident illustrates why public health professions and community partners should be responsible for social distancing education and creating norms — not police.”

The Police Department assigned 1,000 officers to social distancing patrols over the weekend. On Saturday, they issued 51 summonses, including 43 in city parks.