(AP) — A New York City police officer has been suspended after a video posted on social media showed him repeatedly hitting a teenage girl while he was trying to break up a fight.
The incident happened Tuesday when officers responded to an after-school brawl involving a group of girls at a Staten Island bus stop, police said.
As one of the officers tried to arrest one of the teenagers, a 14-year-old female reached for the officer’s handcuffs and hit him, police department spokesperson Julian Phillips said.
A video clip apparently shot by a bystander shows the officer responding by punching the girl in the head several times as someone says, “He’s hitting her? He’s hitting her?”
Police said the officer, whose name was not released, has been suspended without pay while the department’s internal affairs bureau investigates.
The teenager was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released, police said.
Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that he was “not pleased” when the video was brought to his attention.
“We’re going to use the video that was posted on Instagram,” Adams said at an unrelated news conference. “That’s when it first came to my attention, and of my understanding, the police commissioner swiftly suspended the officer that was involved. Now the internal affairs bureau is doing a thorough investigation to determine exactly what happened.”
Adams, Democrat and former police officer, pushed back at the suggestion that videos showing confrontations involving officers may erode trust in the police.
“The people of this city trust their police,” Adams said. “They’re happy to see their police.”
Adams said he hopes “that we get away from the place that the numerical minority that does something incorrect is a reflection of the professionals in the city.”
