A shocking video of two officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) being mocked and assaulted is nearing a million views.
In the video, two male officers are sprayed with water; the woman taping the incident is laughing about the men being “violated.” The abuse gets worse, as one of the officers has a bucket of water poured directly over his heard by a young male.
The account posting the video to Twitter, “NYC Scanner,” captioned the video, “DISRESPECT: This is what #NYPD Officers are faced with today. Petrified to take action.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Twitter account is tagged.
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NYPD Department Chief Terence A. Monahan quickly reacted to the “reprehensible” video.
“The videos of cops being doused with water and having objects hurled at them as they made an arrest in #Harlem is reprehensible. NYC’s cops & communities have made remarkable progress — together — but EVERY New Yorker MUST show respect for our cops. They deserve nothing less,” wrote Chief Monahan via Twitter.
“To [New York]’s Finest: the work you do every day is remarkable,” he added in a subsequent tweet. “We trust you to do what is a very difficult job. Use your discretion — make arrests when necessary — and know that you have our support and full confidence. Thank you for what you do day in and day out. Please stay safe.”
According to the FBI, “Law enforcement agencies reported that 60,211 officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2017,” which is the most recent data available. Additionally, 106 officers “were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2018. Of these, 55 officers died as a result of felonious acts, and 51 officers died in accidents.”
Others also reacted to the shocking video.
“The DISRESPECT NYPD Officers are faced with today is DISGUSTING. They are afraid to take action due to fear of public backlash and because NYC Mayor Bill De Blowsio will throw them under the bus!” wrote congressional candidate Joey Saladino.
Damon Harrison, who plays for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, called the video “disheartening and disrespectful” to good officers who serve.
“This is disheartening and disrespectful to the men and women who take their jobs seriously and truly work to protect the communities they serve,” he said. “Instead of saying ‘we don’t know what happened before the recording started’ like many people do lets just say this is wrong.”
Andrew Pollack, who lost his daughter in the tragic Parkland school shooting, wrote: “HORRIBLE: NYPD officers repeatedly had buckets of water thrown on them as they were patrolling the streets.”
“Is this really how we want to treat the men and women who protect us?” He asked. “These fools need to learn some respect or get arrested! #FixIt.”
The Twitter account for the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York captioned the video, saying “[o]ur anti-cop lawmakers have gotten their wish: the NYPD is now frozen. It’s not the fault of these police officers. It’s the end result of the torrent of bad policies and anti-police rhetoric that has been streaming out of City Hall and Albany for years now.”