Good news. Three police officers will be disciplined for arresting a New York City Council member and a high-ranking city official at the West Indian Day Parade:
The Internal Affairs Bureau will discipline three officers for their role in the arrest of a City Councilmember and another city official as they were leaving the West Indian Day Parade in September. Video that surfaced after the incident showed Councilmember Jumaane Williams and Public Advocate aide Kirsten John Foy arrested after they had identified themselves, and Foy was violently thrown to the ground and handcuffed. [Gothamist]
Williams and Foy had been given permission to pass through the checkpoints. One officer will be disciplined for not admitting that he gave them the go ahead. Another officer will be punished for using excessive force in shoving Foy to the ground and that officer’s supervisor will be disciplined for providing inadequate supervision.
Williams and Foy are both black. Williams said this incident was typical of relations between the N.Y.P.D. and young men of color.
“This needs to be a teachable moment for the N.Y.P.D. as to its unjust encounters with the hundreds of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers that are subject to a discriminatory police culture every day,” Williams said in a statement.
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