NYPD officer put in headlock as crowd cheers
Ed Mullins, NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Assn., demands politicians be held accountable for 'skyrocketing' violence putting police in danger
“Crime is running rampant” in New York City, Ed Mullins, president of the New York Sergeants Benevolent Association, told “America’s Newsroom” on Monday, adding that he blames state and local leaders.
Mullins reacted to a disturbing video that showed one New York Police Department (NYPD) officer in a headlock while trying to make an arrest, as some people in the crowd laughed.
According to the NYPD, on July 1 officers spotted a large group and a vehicle parked illegally in front of a fire hydrant in the Bronx. Police asked the driver, Franklin Adrian, 31, to move the vehicle away from the hydrant several times, but he refused, police said, adding that the officers then issued a parking summons.
When police tried to arrest Adrian, he resisted, according to the NYPD. While the officers were trying to arrest the man, Wisnel Manzueta, 29, approached the officers, refused numerous orders to stay away and then punched one of the officers several times, causing cuts to the officer’s face and head, police said. The man identified by police as Manzueta appears to be seen in the video putting the officer in a chokehold.
The two suspects were arrested.
“It's disgusting,” Mullins said on Monday reacting to the incident. “The headlock [ban] is the very same law that [New York] City Council Speaker Corey Johnson [and] Mayor [Bill] de Blasio is trying to implement.”
He noted that “if the police officer did that, he would be arrested.”
“You could see the danger of putting a uniformed police officer in a headlock like that,” Mullins continued.
“The public needs to think: if they will do that to a uniformed police officer, who’s out on the street working with other police officers, what will they do to you?”
In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson reacted to the chokehold incident saying, “The NYPD was disappointed that the individual was not charged initially. The violence against the police officer speaks for itself. We are now in discussions with the district attorney regarding the case.”
The incident comes amid growing calls to defund or dismantle police departments across the country as well as a push to reform police tactics, following the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Floyd's death has prompted national outrage and some law enforcement agencies have banned the use of the chokehold in an effort to limit the use of excessive force that could result in death.
Mullins noted on Monday that “crime is running rampant” and brought up the fact that a 1-year-old was shot and killed and three other people were injured late Sunday night at a family cookout in a Brooklyn park, according to authorities.
“We just lost a 1-year-old child … and this is a direct result of the policies that have been implemented by Mayor de Blasio, Corey Johnson and Governor [Andrew] Cuomo and it's time that this city holds those politicians accountable,” Mullins said. “They are tying the hands of the police officers.”
He said de Blasio, Johnson and Cuomo “do not want us to be out there making these arrests, contrary to what they’re telling everyone, and the violence is skyrocketing like crazy in a city that took us nearly 30 years to bring back to safety.”
He called it “totally wrong.”
“These individuals should be held accountable and nothing is being done,” Mullins continued. “They’re selling the public nothing but lies.”
ONE-YEAR-OLD KILLED, 3 OTHERS SHOT AT COOKOUT IN NEW YORK CITY, POLICE SAY
The press offices of Johnson, Cuomo and de Blasio did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has reported a staggering increase in shootings and violent crimes in recent weeks. On Saturday, the New York Post reported 15 shootings in 15 hours, just one week after the city saw a bloody July Fourth weekend with 44 shootings and at least eight killed.
“It’s the NYPD that has been saving lives as cops do across this country,” Mullins said on Monday. “We reduced 2000 homicides a year in this city for the last 20 years and no one talks about that.”
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According to statistics from the NYPD, New York City reported 28 incidents between Friday and Sunday. The NYPD reports a year-over-year increase of 600 percent in shooting incidents and a 483 percent increase in shooting victims.
Reacting to the death of the 1-year-old over the weekend de Blasio said on Monday, “This is not anything we can allow in our city and it’s heartbreaking."
"It’s heartbreaking for so many reasons and it begins with the fact that there is just so many guns out there and that is a New York tragedy and a national tragedy,” he continued.
Fox News’ Courtney Crawford and Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.
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