NYPD, DA probe ‘knee on neck’ arrest of a Black man

An ATV driver says a Queens cop held him down by pressing a knee on his neck during a reckless driving arrest that was recorded on a cell phone video — and the incident is now under investigation by the NYPD and Queens prosecutors.

Sircarlyle Arnold, a 34-year-old Black man, told the Daily News he was determined not to be another George Floyd, whose May 25, 2020, death after a Minneapolis cop used a similar tactic sparked national outrage. The officer who held Arnold down appears to be white.

“I didn’t realize what was happening,” he recalled. “I heard a lot of people screaming in the background. I felt something on my neck, but my adrenaline was rushing so much. Then when I saw the video I was like, ‘Oh my God!’”

“I didn’t resist at all,” he said. “I’m saying to myself, ‘Why would you guys treat me like that? I didn’t kill no one. I didn’t hurt no one.’”

The NYPD and the Queens district attorney’s office said the incident is under investigation. Police body camera footage is part of that review.

The video appears to show the officer kneeling on Arnold’s neck for at least several seconds, though it is not clear how much force was applied. As the arrest played out, witnesses yelled for the cop to ease up, the video shows.

“Why you got your knee on his neck?” one man is heard screaming. “Look at his knee! Look at his f——-g knee!”

Arnold’s lawyer, Olayemi Olurin, Wednesday called on Queens DA Melinda Katz to prosecute the officer under a new law that bans police from using a chokehold or otherwise blocking someone’s airway. In response to the new law, the NYPD issued a training video, and urged officers to step in if a fellow cop is using such force.

Olurin also urged Katz to drop the charges against Arnold, which include misdemeanor reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct counts.