NYPD: A (Video) History of Violence
Two NYPD officers were caught on video beating the crap out of a young Jewish man because they mistakenly thought he was trespassing when they found him sleeping on a couch in a synagogue and outreach center for troubled youth in Crown Heights.
The video is shocking, but it's not even close to the first time New York City cops have been caught on camera acting like goons even after a suspect is on the ground -- and in some cases, in handcuffs.
Below we've embedded several videos of other instances of cops taking things way too far -- hopefully to remind the bad apples that the cameras might be rolling the next time they consider thugging out on the citizens they're supposed to protect.
These are just a few examples of officer-involved thuggery. And these are just examples that were caught on video. What's more disturbing than the attacks caught on tape are the attacks that aren't -- we'll never know how many unwarranted NYPD beat-downs occur but go unquestioned because it's the word of an alleged criminal against the word of a cop.
Yesterday was a particularly bad day for New York's boys in blue -- in addition to the beating video hitting the web, a former NYPD officer was convicted of murdering his wife, and another was convicted of federal civil rights violations for unlawfully detaining a guy who was "fucking with [his] cousin."
But not all cops are bad guys -- the overwhelming majority have a tough job that they do well. The bad apples, however, are the ones who tend to get the majority of the ink. That said, we'd like to give the good cops the press they deserve. So if you have any positive NYPD stories, please send them to jking@villagevoice.com.
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