A New York City police officer has been accused of harassing (not stop and frisk) and harassing a man at the Utica Avenue train station at Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.
NYPD officer, Officer Rojas, has also been accused of deleting a video of the incident from activist Shawn Randall Thomas’ camera. Thomas was eventually able to recover the video with video recovery software.
The incident began shortly after Thomas began videotaping an exchange between a different officer and a man detained for jumping the turnstile (you get a lot of that at Utica Avenue).
…. The officer who detained the turnstile jumper remained professional, calm, and collected as he asserted control over the situation. The suspect did not appear to be disorderly.
Then Officer Rojas is seen arriving on the scene, quickly taking notice of Thomas recording the arrest. Rojas can be seen on video pulling out his cellphone and recording Thomas, walking directly up to him and putting the phone directly in front of the man’s camera lens.
After about 30-seconds of silence, Thomas eventually tells the officer, ‘You’re violating my personal space….’
It goes downhill from there. The encounter between Thomas and Rojas begins at 04:15 of video.
Randall Thomas’ arrest report (copy below).
DISCLOSURE:
I grew up in that neighborhood, used that train station for so long the moment I saw the photo, I instantly recognized the stairwell.
There are times that is particular station is full of police on the ground floor of the station right next to the token booth.
While their group presence reminds one of a Friday night club party, far too often, these officers are nowhere to be found, i.e., one or two platforms down or one flight of steps up on the street when a fight breaks out of someone is mugged on the train platform or a knockout attack occurs nearby.
Finally, all of the above is about the paramilitarization of the police state.
LINKS:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/18/video-what-happens-after-an-nyc-man-decides-to-video-record-officers-is-sure-to-spark-an-intense-debate/
http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/02/17/nypd-cop-attacks-man-video-recording-deleting-footage-man-recovers-footage/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJH0pIXL2ak&feature=youtu.be
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