COBBLE HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) — Two NYPD officers are on modified duty as the department’s Internal Affairs investigates a video that has been called disturbing and upsetting.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the video posted online is part of an investigation into claims of brutality.
It was taken Tuesday afternoon inside a liquor store on Hoyt and Baltic streets and shows the two NYPD narcotics detectives wrangling with an unnamed man.
“We thought we were getting stuck up. The officers did not say we’re NYPD,” said witness Abelee Moran. “They didn’t say that we’re detectives. They didn’t tell him you’re under arrest, put your hands behind your back. They just started hitting him. The guy, I can hear him say, ‘Wait. What’s going on?’ So as soon as I heard that, I looked and I started recording immediately.”
The man crashes into a shelf stacked with wine bottles as the officers keep throwing punches, and at one point an officer kicks him.
The witness says even after the man was cuffed the officer wearing a hat in the video continued to punch him and press his knee against the man’s face with his full weight.
The NYPD says the undercover detectives had just witnessed a narcotics purchase, of crack cocaine, and the man in the turquoise hat, white shirt and green shorts fit the description of a suspect, but they had the wrong man.
No drugs were found during a police search. He was issued a desk appearance ticket for resisting arrest and obstruction of government administration.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office will be dismissing the charges.
Tisch spoke about the video during an unrelated press conference Wednesday. She called it an “upsetting video” and said the two officers’ guns and shields have been removed.
New York City Mayor Mamdani posted about the video on social media, calling it “extremely disturbing and unacceptable.”
“Officers should never treat a person this way. The NYPD is conducting a full investigation into this incident,” Mamdani added.
Hawk Newsome with Black Lives Matter NY held a press conference outside the liquor store Wednesday.
“I feel like everybody saw everybody beating a man like it’s the 1950s and 1960s, in 2026 these police officers should be under control,” Newsome said.
Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro said he wants the facts before anyone rushes to judgment.
“NYPD detectives put their lives on the line daily, doing the dangerous work politicians would never have the courage to do,” Munro said. “Narcotics detectives arrest you and tell you to put your hands behind your back and don’t comply, what do you think happens?”
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