Boy a bystander in MTA melee – $5M suit

The family of a student slugged by a cop and slammed to the ground on a Brooklyn subway platform is filing a $5 million notice of claim against the officer and the NYPD, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Benjamin Marshall, 15, was punched in the face by a cop during a melee that broke out inside the Jay St.MetroTech subway station Friday afternoon.

The Science Skills Center High School student was one of five teens arrested during the wild, caught-on-camera brawl that started after two large groups went to blows in a fight that started above ground.

But Benjamin’s upset parents said their son wasn’t even in the fight. They said he followed his friend into the station to get his backpack.

“While he went down into the train station, there was a lot of cops, a lot of students,” said Benjamin’s dad, Anthony Noel, 53. “They were arresting a couple people. When he got down on the platform, one of his friends called out to him, and when he looked over, he got punched multiple times by a police officer in his head. Then he was slammed to the ground.

“About six of them or eight of them were on top of him. One put his knee in his neck. He kept saying, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,’ and they would not let up. They handcuffed him. Slammed him into a sign.”

Noel didn’t have to rely solely on Benjamin’s version of events. Cell phone video of the ruckus went viral, and Noel said it horrified him to see his son slugged by a public servant for seemingly no reason.

“There’s no words to describe what I’m feeling right now besides being furious and angry with what happened,” Noel said. “Because he could have been dead. I’m just outraged to see a cop punching my son in his face. Multiple times.”