NYPD Cop Gets Desk Duty After Allegedly Stomping Pot Suspect's Head
The video above shows Brooklyn police arresting Jahmil-El Cuffee in Bed Stuy last week, after Cuffee allegedly rolled a joint in public. At about 1:40, with Cuffee held down on the ground by several cops, officer Joel Edouard delivers what looks an awful lot like a swift boot to the side of his head.
Edouard was ordered to turn in his gun and badge and placed on desk duty pending an internal investigation after the incident, the New York Daily News reports. Cuffee was treated for head and neck injuries and charged with marijuana possession, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
The video comes at a time of intense scrutiny for the NYPD. Earlier this month, Staten Island man Eric Garner died after cops placed him in a choke hold, a move officers are explicitly banned from using, and a previously recorded video showing cops choke holding a man in Harlem surfaced a week later.
Cuffee appeared alongside Eric Garner's family and Al Sharpton at a press conference yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports:
"I just want it all to stop," said Mr. Cuffee, who is seen on the video apparently being stomped in the head by an officer. "(I'm) a little sore but I'm alright. I'll be alright."