'Pry'-baby. vid outrage
Heat on NYPD after 'appalling' arrest
A group of NYPD officers tried to rip a child from his mother’s arms at a Brooklyn food-assistance center Friday in a scene captured on video that first sparked outrage and now an investigation.
The shocking footage posted to Facebook shows a young mother — identified by police as Jazmine Headley, 23 — sitting on the floor at a SNAP center in Boerum Hill as a uniformed officer attempts to pry her year-old son from her arms, dragging her across the room in the process. Other officers joined in trying to separate mother and son.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Look what they’re doing to us. Look what they’re doing to her,” someone can be heard yelling as about three officers and at least one security guard surround the woman.
“There’s a f--king baby in her hands!” someone else screams.
At one point, the mother can be seen mouthing, “I’m begging you please,” as she lays flat on the ground.
One police officer points what appears to be a Taser at the protesting crowd as more cops arrive.
Monae Sinclair, who posted the video, wrote that the mom sat down on the floor at the 275 Bergen St. office because there were no chairs left and was then confronted by a security guard.
“[The mom] Made The Security Guard Feel Dumb So She Called The Cops On Her & This Was The Outcome,” Sinclair wrote in the video’s caption. “Mind You She Had Her Baby In Her Hands The Whole Time. I’m So F--king Disgusted with The NYPD.”
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Sunday called for an investigation, calling the incident “unacceptable, appalling and heartbreaking.”
“I’d like to understand what transpired and how these officers or the NYPD justifies this,” Johnson tweeted.
The NYPD said it is investi- gating the “troubling” incident.
Cops were called to the center on Friday at around 1 p.m. after Human Resources Administration staffers weren’t able to kick out a person they said was being “disorderly” and blocking a hallway.
When officers got to the cen- ter they ordered Headley to leave but she refused, according to police.
She was charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and criminal trespassing.