By Sarah Calams
NEW YORK — A video showing a violent brawl between NYPD officers and two teens in a Manhattan subway station has gone viral, putting the spotlight on officer assaults in The Big Apple once again.
The brawl started as a fare evasion incident, but quickly turned into a vicious confrontation, NBC New York reported. Two officers approached the teens and told them they needed to leave the station after skipping out on their subway fare. One teen, a male suspect, then got aggressive with an officer, punching the officer’s head multiple times, police said.
However, a witness who recorded the video claims the “officer was the one who got physical first.” Another witness said the incident started because the officers noticed the pair were arguing in the station.
“She’s a female, he’s a guy. They were just making sure she was OK,” witness Matthew Rue said. Rue also claimed the officer tried to “physically push the teen girl out of the station.”
“He initially calmly asked the cop to apologize,” Rue said, stating that’s when the confrontation got “heated.”
The officers were treated and later released from the hospital for their injuries, according to the report. The teens were arrested and charged, but the male suspect, who was arrested last year for possession of a loaded gun, was later released on his own recognizance.
“Arrested with a gun, he walks out. Fights with a police officer, he walks out. What’s next, does he shoot someone? Kill someone?” asked former NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.