The NYPD says internal affairs detectives are investigating after video was posted online showing officers appear to punch a man as they pinned him down inside a Target in Brooklyn over the weekend.
The 14-minute video, posted to YouTube on Sunday, shows several officers crowding around a man later identified as Alando Brissett inside the department store in Flatbush.
One officer can be seen putting his knee into Brissett's head, and he and at least one other cop then begin punching him. As the 25-year-old Brissett is struck, several customers can be heard yelling, “Don’t hit him!” while others walk toward the cops.
Other officers arrive and one bystander can be heard saying “50 police for one person.”
Several minutes pass before police take Brissett, now in handcuffs but with his shorts around his ankles, out of the store. Once outside, his shorts are pulled up, and he is taken first to an ambulance and then a police cruiser.
Brissett's grandmother tells NBC 4 New York that he had gone to the Target to return bottles and had gotten into an argument with an employee and then refused to leave.
"He's a good kid from the heart," she said.
Local
Brissett's mother said that she had to take him to the doctor on Monday because he had bruises and was still in pain. The extent of his injuries was unclear.
Target said in a statement police were called to the store because Brissett was acting in a concerning manner. The store said it takes the security and safety of customers and employees very seriously.
According to multiple media reports, Brissett faces charges of trespassing, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration.