Two undercover NYPD officers attempting to arrest a 14-year-old girl because they thought a child who was with her had pushed the button on a police call box got more than they bargained for.
The arrest attempt, which went down around 7pm on Thursday night in the uptown neighborhood of Washington Heights, was thwarted by other members of the community.
Witnesses reported the incident began after the seven-year-old child allegedly hit the button.
The arrest attempt, which went on for almost ten minutes, was filmed by Copwatch Patrol Unit member Michael Barber, according to the Free Thought Project.
In a caption he posted, Barber wrote: ‘May 14 around 7PM in Washington heights 140st and Hamilton undercover officers Gonzalez from the 30th Pct NYPD over stepped his boundaries and was not following proper protocol.’
He added: ‘I was scared to put up this video at first because I was not sure if it would get the cops in trouble or the community but everyone was wrong at some point.’
In the video, one of the officers called two young girls over to his car and questioned them while another officers looked on.
Before the girls came over to the car, he did place his hands on one of them.
After the questioning was over, the officer got in his car and the girl came over and asked for his badge number and name.
The officer got out of the vehicle and went after her, while onlookers yelled and got in his way.
The girl got away and he went after her again, but this time others physically prevented him from laying hands on her.
A woman yelled at him: ‘You know you’re doing wrong! Go home!’
He then gave up and drove away, but not before making a disparaging comment about the weight of one of the women who stopped his arrest attempt.
As he pulled away in his car, a man yelled: ‘Respect the neighborhood.’
The Copwatch Patrol Unit, which attempts to ‘end police repression through directly monitoring police while they are engaging the public’ wrote with the video: ‘We must protect our youths.
‘This is a clear example of what people power is all about.
‘These cops try to arrest these young girls for no reason at all and the community stepped up and did not allow it.
‘These male officers had no right to put their hands on these girls, but they did anyway.
‘These officers did not follow proper procedures and protocols.’
