BY Led Black (@Led_Black)
(Photo: Briana E. Heard)
The smartphone video, which has since been removed, captured the near melee that went down on Sunday, August 10th on Sherman Ave when police manhandled an alleged drug dealer in broad daylight and almost caused a riot.
The police allege that Francisco Guzman, 23, had been observed taking part in a drug transaction when they approached him. Things quickly escalate from there and the video shows 5 cops taking down the suspect, while several cops punch the young man as he is on the ground face down.
The hyper-aggressive nature of the takedown riles up the crowd of onlookers who are heard on the video protesting the arrest. The video highlights the brazen brutality and unprofessional thuggery that is the calling card of some of the cops that patrol our neighborhood. This is unacceptable behavior by those deemed to be the upholders of the law. Things must change.
We invite you to subscribe to the weekly Uptown Love newsletter, like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, or e-mail us at [email protected].
Kelley Boyd
August 15, 2014 at 10:18 amThankfully this was caught on tape. It seems that there was one officer that was the main offender, and one other there toward the end. We have got to have a conversation and get legislation that requires officers to wear body cameras. The incidence of police violence has been reported to go down by 50% when cameras on on the cops. NYT did an article about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police-officers.html?_r=2&
IMO we need to ask our officials where we are on this as a policy.
tino
August 15, 2014 at 1:54 pmSelling drugs in our neighborhood and resisting arrest.. I think it fair.
CousinGenie
August 23, 2014 at 8:37 amWhile I acknowledge the truth in your observation, dare I admit I do agree. Us killing and harming us us/was a crime long before this. However, I employ you to be mindful of that mindset.
Just as you would have no authority to chase down and brutally beat a man who just punched your daughter in the face, an officer of the law cannot senselessly beat a man with his radio as others hold him down and one punches him repeatedly about his face.
While you may end up in jail for attempted murder, what should the police get for the same crime you committed? While we make it difficult an complicate their ability to protect and serve us, their responsibility isn’t to capture and torture us either. Just my observation
GOD BLESS!!!!!
John Doe
August 15, 2014 at 2:15 pmInstead of following the masses and trying to do a story on “police brutality” why not instead do a story on the thankless job which is being an nypd officer… Look at the video closely before you make bogus accusations… The “young man” tried to go in his pockets while the officer was searching him which is considered a threatening move. That is when the officer pushed him against the stores gate. When he’s taken to the ground he begins to resist arrest by trying to pin his hands under his torso in order to prevent the officer from placing cuffs around his wrist… The officers being to hit him in order for him to reveal his hands… It’s amazing to me how you guys are quick to defend someone that sells drugs in his own community and has been arrested atleast three times before for the same charge but turn against the people that are trying to clean up the streets… I wouldn’t be surprised if the same lady that was screaming at the officer winds up and a funeral screaming the same way because someone she knows does from an overdose of what the “young man” was selling.
Omg not again
August 16, 2014 at 8:49 am“Thank less job?” First, no one asks any individual to become a cop. Second, cops are paid to protect and serve the community but most of the time it seems like they only protect and serve their own interests. Third, pummeling someone does not make them resist less. And lastly, how often do you hear of people overdosing? I’m guessing no where near the amount of stories you hear of police brutality and murder.
John blow
August 17, 2014 at 10:48 amF THE POLICE … NEXT TIME THAT HAPPENS IN WASH HEIGHTS WE SHOOTING AND KILLING EM !!!
NYCB
August 20, 2014 at 2:30 pmThank you it is horrible to read these articles and not one writer stress the fact that this Drug dealer not even from that AVE. was selling not Weed, or cigarettes COCAINE!!! on a busy St On a Dominican Holiday which draws out even more kids & people on that St Given that that most of the mothers instaed of taking the kids to a park push them out side in front of the building to play. The guy was clearly resisting arrest and you are going to call it police brutality???
What is brutal is this guys selling Drugs drawing dealers and rivals to an ave. Full of families innocently walking by.
admin
August 15, 2014 at 2:58 pmJohn Doe – Drug Dealer or not – the police must act in appropriate manner. That is their job. Point blank. The way one of those cops was punching the young man looked like a brawl not an arrest. No one is defending drug dealers we are demanding that the police act according to the law. Thanks for your comment.
Led Black
The UC
lo
August 15, 2014 at 5:59 pmTo arrest a person for drugs by doing it the right way not ganging up him and beating the crap out of him its another fuck that shit!!!! Coñaso
NYPD 4EVER
August 16, 2014 at 10:12 pmNeighborhood drug dealer, resisting arrest, and you people are saying the cops were at fault? Are you people out of your minds? Was he your guy to score your smack and since he got arrested you have to find a new degenerate in the neighborhood? The minute he put his hand in his pocket, the cops should put his head through the gate! They did absolutely nothing wrong!
IA
August 16, 2014 at 11:50 pmI wonder if you would feel the same way if you or one of your family members was racially profiled and treated that way. How do you know he was selling drugs, did u see him sell, how do you know what the hell was in his pockets? U have no way of knowing for sure he is a drug dealer unless you score from him personally so how can you judge him. At the end of the day, its excessive force and an abuse of power. Nowhere in the police academy do they train you to repeatedly punch someone in the face when they are down on the ground. Someone needs to police the police.
Sonia
August 17, 2014 at 12:52 amFrom what I saw there was no resisting until the cops started with their trademark aggression. I don’t care if you think that he deserved a beat down, in this country there is due process, jackass. When police officers misbehave this way they are undermining the laws and process of the legal system itself. Constitutionally, there should not be cruel and unusual punishments meted out- including before a trial. They can apprehend without going on sadistic abuse detail. At least the video is evidence and should be given to the those who can make it a public accounting of the aggression and disservice the NYPD is complicit in.
We should be more concerned with decriminalizing these acts and enacting legislature to deal with the medical aspect of it; therapy, rehabilitation, etc.,
as well as, the socioeconomic factors that lead people to partake in these hustles- if in fact he is guilty of a drug sale. Job creation, training, and access to education will be the treatment for this bane of society.
The war on drugs started by Reagan was anything but that- Oliver North and the Nicaraguan Contras dispelled that lie long ago- and civil forfeiture is a tool to rob citizens by the municipal and state governments under the guise of narcotics law enforcement.
Until the City of New York erupts in the streets at the savagery of the police force this endemic situation will continue to be the norm, even after the homicide of Eric Garner by the NYPD.
NYCB
August 20, 2014 at 2:32 pmTHANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone on here must be a custy!!
Fullana
August 17, 2014 at 1:00 pmThey are always abusing their power or the power they think they have ppl r losing respect for police officers and this is why I personally have no respect for them what so ever we were not there to see the whole thing but we could see the abbuse these cops have one guy 5 cops like really it took 5 cops to beat this guy nd he showed no type of resistance
NYCB
August 20, 2014 at 2:32 pmYou must of not been watching the same video!!
admin
August 20, 2014 at 3:49 pmNYCB – What he was selling is not the issue. We are not making excuses for drug dealers but you should not be making excuses for cops that don’t do their job properly. I have seen many arrests handled in the proper manner. This looked like a bar brawl and tarnishes all cops unfairly.
Led
THE UC
DT Mike
August 20, 2014 at 10:30 pmI am a proud, retired NYPD Det. I spent 4yrs on midnight patrol, 2yrs as a plain clothes anti crime cop & 4yrs in the Det Squad before retiring due to a LOD injury. I’v had my fair share of resisting arrests situations that look like this video, some a little more hands on. You people have never had to arrest anyone resisting before. You don’t know what gets taught in the academy. I can tell you this, yes they teach holds & tactics on arresting someone who’s resisting & yes it works in the gym because your partner is playing along since it’s just training. But guess what, when someone is resisting on the street & they don’t want to give you their hands, those tactics go out the window cause they’re not playing along & you do what you have to do to restrain that individual. Do you know how many cops nationwide have been shot while perps are laying on their stomachs not showing their hands? Too many! Some perps take out pistols from their waistband, roll over onto their side & open fire. That’s why the first reaction is to jump on their back the minute they hide their hands. So that way they can’t roll over if they are trying to get a gun out of their pants. Second, voice commands don’t work as cops yell “show me your hands” or “give me your hands”. “Pain is compliance”, thats one thing we’re taught. Here’s what’s gonna happen real soon. Cops are gonna approach the communities with a hands off approach on everything. Stop & frisk is down 90 percent but more people are carrying guns, hence the rise in shootings. Soon drug dealers will be getting free passes as well & the good old days of the 70s & 80s will be here again. Crack addicts will be roaming the streets 24/7. You think cops are gonna care, NO. Most of them don’t even live in the city so they don’t care what will happen to it. Maybe when the Murders, Robberies, Shootings, Rapes, etc skyrocket, maybe, just maybe, you people will look to cops for help. Until then, either police your own damn neighborhoods or stay the hell out of their way.
CousinGenie
August 23, 2014 at 8:59 amWhile I acknowledge the truth in your observation, dare I admit I do agree. Us killing and harming us is/was a crime long before this. However, I employ you to be mindful of that mindset.
Just as I would have no authority to chase down and brutally beat a man who just punched my daughter in the face, an officer of the law cannot senselessly beat a man with his radio as others hold him down and one punches him repeatedly about his face. Furthermore, if some officers are capable of getting cuffs on a presumed criminal without the use of “Power Abuse” than other officers can do the same. While the circumstances may differ in this situation from what my eyes saw there was no reasonable need for this guy to be getting punched and hit with a radio.
While I may end up in jail for attempted murder, what should the police get for the same crime I’d just committed? While we make it difficult an complicate their ability to protect and serve us, their responsibility isn’t to capture and torture us either.
I also envision your latter statements coming to fruition soon even those police who truly had a desire to protect and serve. Those officer who did take on the responsible just for power and prestige will too become desensitized to the oath they took. They will role right by as husbands beat wives, as sons sell drugs to the own mother, as we kill one another. The only way to get an officer to do anything would be if you called them, even then they’ll take their time. END RESULT: BACK TO THE DAYS OF OLD!!!
Just my observation
GOD BLESS!!!!! & THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE. I just ask that we all make an effort to see all sides.
CousinGenie
August 23, 2014 at 9:03 amI apologize in the last paragraph I meant,” those police do DID NOT take on the responsibility for power and prestige will to become desensitized.