A viral video showing an NYPD officer pummeling a 14-year-old girl during an afterschool fight in Staten Island has led to the officer’s suspension without pay, according to local reports.
During a press briefing with reporters Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said he was “not pleased with what I saw on the video.
In the footage, the cop is seen punching the teenager repeatedly while attempting to break up a fight at Edwin Markham Middle School shortly before 3:00 p.m. Tuesday.
“I jumped in and the cops came and were supposed to be breaking it up, but the cops got into the fight,” the girl, Kyonna Robinson, told The NY Post. “Then everyone was just in handcuffs and my sister [was] in handcuffs and I went up to my sister and asked the cops, ‘What are you doing?’ and he pushed me and then I hit him two times and then he hit me 11 times.”
An NYPD spokesperson said that the officer, along with another cop, tried handcuffing one of the girls involved in the fight and “someone was pulling at them.”
Adams said bodycams on the cops are currently being reviewed as part of an internal investigation.
“A young girl was being jumped by two other children and the police intervened. It was NYPD, not school safety agents, and so we are going to look at the body cam of the police officers,” he said.
He added: “We’re going to use the video that was posted on Instagram. That’s when it first came to my attention, and of my understanding, the police commissioner swiftly suspended the officer that was involved.”
Meanwhile, Robinson says that she is still suffering from wounds due to the cop’s attack.
“I got a knot on my head. I still have migraines. I can feel where the knot on my head is without touching it.
“If you are going to have officers like police officers, you should know that they’re going to do the right thing, that they’re not going to beat up on a 14-year-old,” she concluded.
