A 39-year-old New York police officer was arrested and charged with strangulation and attempted strangulation after a video of him apparently using a strangler circulated while making an arrest on a Queens boardwalk over the weekend, the police confirmed. Police to Fox News on Thursday.
NYPD OFFICER SUSPENDED AFTER VIDEO EMERGENCIES APPEARS SHOWING CHOKEHOLD DURING QUEEN’S DETENTION
Images from the incident reportedly show the officer, identified by the police department as David Afanador, tackling a black suspect on the ground and strangling him during an arrest Sunday.
In this photo taken from police video camera, New York Police officers arrest a man on a boardwalk on Sunday, June 21, 2020 in New York. New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says a police officer was quickly suspended without pay after putting his arm around the man’s neck because we live in “unprecedented times.” Shea announced the suspension Sunday just hours after the officer used what the commissioner called “an apparent stranglehold” during a boardwalk clash in the Rockaway section of Queens.
(NYPD via AP)
In the video, a viewer was heard yelling at the group of four officers, “Hey, he’s choking you, let them go!” One of the officers was seen with his arm wrapped around the suspect’s neck. Then another officer seemed to signal the first officer to release him.
The suspect, identified by his lawyer as Ricky Bellevue, was seen in a longer body camera video mocking the police before grabbing an unidentified object and asking an officer, “Are you afraid, are you afraid?”
Afanador was initially suspended after the incident.
The incident came days after the New York City Council passed legislation that would make officers’ use of stranglers a criminal offense, which was prohibited by the New York Police Patrol Guide nearly three decades, in all situations and by prohibiting officers from sitting, kneeling, or standing on the chest and back of a suspect during an arrest.
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Fox News’ Frank Miles contributed to this report.
