NYPD Officer Suspended Without Pay After Video Shows Teen Hit With Gun During Arrest

The NYPD says one police officer has been suspended without pay and another has been placed on modified duty after a video surfaced of them punching and hitting a 16-year-old drug suspect in the face with a gun in Brooklyn while the teen had his hands up to surrender.

The surveillance footage, which was originally obtained by DNAInfo.com, shows the officers catch up to the teen after a brief chase in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As the suspect stops running one officer throws a punch at his face. Then the other officer hits him with his gun after the teen raises his hands in the air.

The teenager was arrested Aug. 29. Prosecutors said the teen ended up pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and was released.

But the teen's lawyer said officers had no reason to stop him in the first place.

"My client was leaving a friend's apartment, he committed absolutely no crime, he did absolutely nothing wrong, and these officers decided to chase him," said Amy Rameau. "They chased him and they brutalized him."

"You don't get to stop anyone you feel like stopping in the streets when there's no probable cause," she said. 

The two officers, who are from the 79th Precinct, are being investigated by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson.

"What's depicted on this video is troubling and warrants a thorough investigation," Thompson said in a statement.

A police union official, Patrick Lynch, called the video misleading because it doesn't show how the teenage suspect was caught with drugs and tried to get away.

"As usual, the video fails to capture the offense that resulted in police action or the lengthy foot pursuit that culminated in the arrest," Lynch said. "Situations like this one happen in real time under great stress. It's very easy to be judgmental in the comfort of an office while sitting in front of a video screen."

Rameau said she plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the NYPD and the officers.

-- Stacey Bell contributed to this report. 

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