NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A video was made public showing a man in South Jamaica being detained by police, with one officer repeatedly punching the man as he was being restrained on the ground.
Police identified the man in the video as Donald David, 38, who they said was being taken into custody for a drug-related investigation around 3 p.m. on Friday.
The video, which was uploaded to Citizen app and can be viewed here, shows two men on top of Davis on the edge of a Queens street in the vicinity of 160th Street and 107 Ave.
An officer wearing a “NYPD Police” vest tells Davis to stop, before sending another man to the car to grab a taser. It is unclear from the video is the man is wearing NYPD markers under his jacket.
“Taze him, taze him, taze him,” the officer in the vest tells the man before he unleashes the taser.
The officer then punches Davis repeatedly in the face. Onlookers can be heard reacting in the background.
“STOP!” one witness yells, before another says “Yo, stop hitting him! Yo, stop hitting him!”
Another witness says “Yo, you don’t gotta punch him bro, you don’t gotta punch him bro” before someone else confirms “We got all of that,” indicating that the interaction is on video.
At that point, the video shows more officers arriving to assist in the arrest.
Davis can be heard saying "I can't breathe" as more officers attempt to restrain him.
Eventually, police get Davis handcuffed and upright, sitting on the edge of a vehicle.
1010 WINS/WCBS 880 reached out to the NYPD for comment, and police said that Davis was actively resisting, as they claim is evident from the video.
According to police, during the arrest, Davis was attempting to destroy and ingest narcotics evidence.
Davis was charged with possession of a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, criminal use of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct.