The NYPD are once again at the center of a firestorm of controversy, this time for being caught on tape brutally beating a 19 year-old Bronx resident for no apparent reason.

The surveillance video shows officers punching, kicking and hitting Jateik Reed with batons. The officers allege that Reed was holding drugs in his hand, and flailing around when the officers tried to apprehend them. However, the video tells a very different story.

Many feel this is just another example of New York’s racist, oppressive “Stop and Frisk Program” at work.

From NY1:

“Officers swore they witnessed bags of crack and marijuana being carried by Reed. In the criminal complaint one officer is quoted as saying, “He observed the defendant to have on his person, in his hand, one (1) clear plastic bag containing a white, rock-like substance, which he threw to the ground. In his hand, two (2) clear plastic bags, each containing a dried green leafy substance with a distinctive odor, in public view.”

Surveillance video from a nearby building shows Reed walking with his hands out, no drugs in view. John Eterno, a retired New York City Police Department captain, says it appears Reed shouldn’t have been stopped.

“The officers would have to only go in their pockets if they had reasonable suspicion, if there was a weapon in there. And given what I’ve seen on the film I’m not sure they had that reasonable suspicion,” Eterno said.”

Read more at NY1.com

Reed lawyer is now demanding that the officers be charged with assault.

Check out the video below:

 

Were the NYPD’s actions justified?

Is it time for the State Department to investigate the NYPD’s treatment of

men of color?

Sound off below!