BATON BEAT
Vid shows officer repeatedly hitting teen
AN NYPD COP, standing over an 18-year-old Brooklyn high school student, used his baton to beat the teen in an episode caught on video.
The recording shows Police Officer Kareem Phillips cursing repeatedly at Yordy Aragonez before striking him at least twice with the baton in front of a room of students.
The cell phone footage shows the officer grabbing Aragonez’s sweatshirt with one hand while using his other hand to whack him with the baton.
Aragonez told NY1, which first reported the jarring scene, that he plans to sue the city. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating.
The clash between Officer Phillips and Aragonez broke out at around 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 21 inside Progress High School in Williamsburg. It happened amid a rash of fights that had broken out inside the school on Grant St., police sources said.
“One kid had bumped into another kid,” a source said. “(Aragonez) continued to fight with school officials.” Aragonez and at least one other teen were given summonses for disorderly conduct, police said.
“As officers attempted to break up the altercation, an officer used a baton,” an NYPD spokeswoman said. “As a matter of practice, the incident is under review by the Internal Affairs Bureau.”
Phillips, 41, is a 13-year veteran of the department. He has spent most of his career assigned to the School Safety Division, officials said.
Aragonez told NY1 that he was jumped by his classmates and thought that the cops were coming to help him.
A call to his attorney was not immediately returned.