Multiple officers who were involved in the arrest of a man in Brooklyn have been placed on “modified assignment,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said, after they were filmed repeatedly punching the man.
Asked why the officers used such force, Adams, a retired NYPD captain, responded in part: “Adrenaline is real.”
A video posted to social media shows at least two officers punching the man while onlookers yell and try to intervene. One of the officers takes out a Taser and keeps the bystanders at bay while two other officers struggle with the man in between two parked vehicles. At one point, the man appears to swing at one of the officers.
A New York Police Department spokesperson said that at about 9:34 p.m. on July 4, officers tried to stop a person from lighting fireworks and pointing them at apartment windows. According to police, the person fled and a 27-year-old man whom they identified as Shaquan Davis prevented police from pursuing the person by stepping in their path and pushing an officer. When the officer attempted to arrest Davis, police allege, he resisted arrest by “pushing, shoving, wrestling, flailing his arms and punching the officer.”
Davis, who lives in Brooklyn, was arrested on charges of assault of a police officer, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, assault with intent to cause physical injury, disorderly conduct and harassment. He is due in court on Oct. 7. His attorney, Jonathan Fink, said Davis was released on his own recognizance and denies any wrongdoing. His position is that he was assaulted by police, Fink said.
A spokesperson for Adams referred NBC News to remarks he made on a radio show Wednesday morning.
When asked about the video by radio host Tarsha “Miss Jones” Jones of 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy in the Morning,” Adams said he had seen it and that Police Commissioner Edward Caban had “immediately placed” the officers on a modified assignment. A modified assignment typically means an officer has been stripped of their firearm and assigned to a nonenforcement role.
“They’re going to do a thorough investigation and find out what happened,” Adams said. “Everyone must be held accountable, because when you have the power and authority to take away someone’s freedom, there’s a lot of obligation and oversight that should come with that, and I have a lot of faith in Commissioner Caban because he came up through the ranks, and his dad was a strong advocate for diversity in the Police Department.”
He added: “We’re going to look into this, and it’s going to be investigated appropriately, and if those officers are found to have done something improper, they’re going to be held accountable. We do not play the game. We’re going to support our police, but our police must support the people that they are policing.”
Jones asked him why, if police knew they were being recorded by bystanders, they felt “so comfortable” and “so empowered” to act as they did.
“That’s a great question, and I think it’s a combination of things. Adrenaline is real, people are caught up in the adrenaline, and that’s what we’re constantly trying to train people that you’ve got to take a step back,” Adams said. “You get caught up in the emotion of policing and you start just reacting and not thinking and you make those errors and mistakes.”
The police department also faced criticism this week over a five-second video posted to X by a city councilman on Tuesday that showed an officer punching a man in the face while his hands were behind him and apparently restrained.
That video was recorded in Brooklyn. A police spokesperson said a man was stopped “in regard to an amplified sound from a portable speaker” at approximately 3:42 a.m. Friday. He was warned multiple times to turn off the speaker and did not comply, according to police. When officers confiscated the speaker, he became disorderly, stepped in front of them and attempted to grab it from them, police said. According to police, officers gave him multiple warnings to remain on the sidewalk and to stop interfering with police, and when they tried to arrest him, he resisted. The man in the video, Lamark Wyche, 44, of Brooklyn, was arrested on charges of obstructing governmental administration and unreasonable noise, which Wyche said have been dropped. His attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.
The NYPD did not identify the officers in either video.
“Residents and community leaders in Coney have worked very hard over many years to build up trust and respect between the cops and the community,” said Justin Brannan, the councilman who shared the video on X. “Our community is pro-public safety. Punching people in the face when their hands are behind their backs isn’t public safety and being anti-police brutality doesn’t mean you are anti-cop. Incidents like this have a ripple effect and set everything back.”
A City Hall spokesperson said: “We hold the men and women of the NYPD to the highest standards, and we are reviewing the incident.”
