COPS UNDER ATTACK
Crowds cheer as thug puts officer in headlock
Lawlessness triumphed on a Bronx street corner earlier this month, when two cops who were trying to break up a crowd found themselves surrounded by jeering bystanders. Cheers broke out as a man the cops were trying to arrest put one of them in a headlock.
A pair of NYPD cops simply wanted to disperse a crowd gathered on a hot July night at a Bronx street corner.
But within minutes, the two officers found themselves surrounded by angry, taunting bystanders, and as the crowd cheered, a man the cops were trying to arrest put one of the officers in a headlock, one of the very maneuvers they themselves would under a proposed law soon face misdemeanor charges for using.
“F--k him up! F--k him up!” an unidentified man who filmed the encounter shouts as the suspect wraps his right arm around the neck of one of the cops.
The dangerous grip lasts a chilling four seconds, video from the July 1 melee at Grand Concourse and Morris Avenue shows.
Then the captive cop breaks the headlock and falls to the ground. At that point the suspect runs off.
“They smoked you, p---y!” the man filming is heard taunting. “You just got smoked, p---y!”
The video came to light Saturday when it was tweeted by the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
The union used the video to vent their fury over a City Council bill now awaiting Mayor de Blasio’s signature that will make it a misdemeanor offense for cops to use any maneuver that restricts a suspect’s air flow by compressing the neck.
Sitting, kneeling or standing on a suspect’s chest or back in a manner compressing their breathing would face the same penalty — up to a year in jail.
“COREY JOHNSON your STUPID law is about to be signed by NYC STUPID Mayor it’s time you both take your community input & grab these perps yourself,” read the SBA tweet, posted with the video.
“Putting a cop in a headlock could mean a death sentence if they lose control of their gun,” an outraged law-enforcement source told The Post. “A cop in a headlock can’t maintain weapons control.”
The cop in a headlock suffered a gash to the head that required staples, sources said.
The NYPD knows who the “headlocker” is — he is a known gang member who turned himself in a week later in the 46th Precinct where the brawl happened, a lawenforcement source said.
He has a long rap sheet, according to police sources. He’s been arrested 11 times for charges including gang assault, criminal possession of a loaded firearm and robbery, among other raps.
He brought with him to the station house his attorney and a copy of the video, which the lawyer believed exonerated his client, as it also shows the cop lunging at the suspect before they began grappling, the source said.
But the video does not show what caused the cop to lunge — which was the suspect allegedly kicking down the street a body camera that had fallen off the uniform of one of the cops.
The suspect was released without charges pending further investigation by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, sources said.
“The NYPD was disappointed that the individual was not charged initially,” an NYPD spokesperson said. “The violence against the police officer speaks for itself. We are now in discussions with the district attorney regarding the case.”
Despite police concern, de Blasio has stated he plans to sign the bill.
“We’re going to do the retraining of officers to address the features of the law,” de Blasio said at a Tuesday news conference.