‘RESIST’ ASSIST
Video: People cheer as man fights cops
A Manhattan crowd cheered and jeered as two NYPD cops were hurt early Saturday trying to subdue a strapping 6-foot-tall, 182-pound suspect, who toppled the officers to the pavement before trying to flee custody, video obtained by The Post shows.
The ugly 2 a.m. incident unfolded when the man approached two uniformed officers on the Lower East Side, according to cops and witnesses.
It’s unclear what exactly sparked the man’s battle with, and brief escape from, the cops.
Video obtained by The Post shows the officers trying to place the young man, later identified as Shawndel Evans, into a patrol vehicle in the pouring rain when he begins to struggle.
“I’m gonna record this s--t!” said one witness, who did just that.
Bystanders cheer on Evans, 26, yelling, “You’re a strong man, get out of there bro!” and “They don’t got you! They don’t got you! Get the f--k up out of there! Hurry up! Hurry up!”
The officers appear to tell Evans “Enough!” and fight to keep their hold on him as the three spin around Rivington Street, the clip reveals. The cops seem to gain the upper hand before the man suddenly gets to his feet. The two cops, struggling to keep their grip, then fall to the ground, with one apparently hitting his head on the pavement.
The suspect can be seen trotting off, pulling up his drooping pants, while the injured officer lays prone on the street and the sickening cheers from onlookers grow louder. According to a witness, Evans approached the cops and asked to use one of the officer’s cellphones. In response, the officer allegedly told him, “Go f--k yourself,” prompting Evans to lash out, the witness claimed.
However, the NYPD paints a different picture of how the chaotic encounter began. Evans became agitated while speaking to the officers and “began to hit the windows” of their marked police vehicle, causing damage, authorities contend.
“The individual became more aggressive and struck the officers who were attempting to restrain him. One officer fell striking his head on the pavement,” the NYPD said.
Multiple officers quickly caught Evans at Rivington and Essex streets, where he was “continuing to resist arrest,” police said. The two officers were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, cops said.
Evans, of Hamden, Conn., was charged with criminal mischief and two counts each of seconddegree assault, third-degree assault, obstructing governmental administration, harassment and disorderly conduct, the NYPD said. He was remanded Saturday night after being given $5,000 cash bail at his arraignment.
A one-time college lacrosse player who graduated in 2019 from Thiel College with a criminal-justice degree, Evans had never been in trouble with the law before, his mother told The Post.
“He’s working, paying his bills, responsible. He’s never had an issue, never been arrested,” Nicole Evans, 49, said of her son.