Dad feared new ‘Floyd’
Schenectady cop probed after knee-on-neck incident
Viral video of a cop kneeling on a man’s neck during an arrest prompted police in upstate Schenectady to probe the incident.
The footage, filmed by the father of the man being arrested Monday morning, sparked a protest outside the city’s police headquarters and led to calls for the officer to be fired.
“What he’s done to you?” Jaindra Gaindarpersaud shouts at the cop as his son, 31-year-old Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, is pinned to the ground, according to the clip.
Cops charged the younger Gaindarpersaud with resisting arrest and criminal mischief after responding to a complaint about someone slashing the tires of a neighbor’s vehicle.
“He just jumped on me, grabbed on me, throw me to the concrete … smashed my head down, take his knee smash it on my neck,” Gaindarpersaud told protesters during a demonstration hosted Monday evening by area activist group All of Us. “I was blacked out when they throw me in the car.”
He said he regained consciousness after being taken to a local hospital.
Gaindarpersaud’s father said he couldn’t help thinking of George Floyd, the black Minneapolis man killed in May after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes.
“When I was seeing that, George Floyd come in my mind and I say my son going to go just like George Floyd,” he said during the demonstration.
Floyd’s death prompted nationwide protests and calls for police reforms.
According to a statement from the Schenectady Police Department, the officer, whose name has not been released, was questioning Gaindarpersaud about the neighbor’s car when he ran into a yard.
“A brief foot chase and struggle ensured during which the officer lost his radio and asked a nearby witness to call police,” according to the statement. “Additional responding officers arrived on scene and were able to assist the original officer and ultimately place the male into handcuffs.”
The department is “aware” of the video and said the incident is “currently being reviewed by the department’s office of professional standards.”
The Schenectady chapter of the NAACP said the incident is of “grave concern” and is calling for a thorough investigation as well as a review of body camera footage.
“The Schenectady NAACP stands against the use of excessive force and tactics that cause extreme physical harm or death by the Schenectady Police Department and all law enforcement,” chapter President Odo Butler told The Daily Gazette. “We demand that all citizens be treated equally regardless of their race or ethnicity. We are in a critical time, and any inexcusable behavior by law enforcement must be addressed immediately.”