The Brooklyn District Attorney has video of the incident in question and he's investigating.
In the video, keep an eye on the right hand of the police officer, which goes into Lenard Joye's sweater pocket and comes out with what Joye claims is a wad of cash, which the police officer does not give back.
"Why you gonna take my money," you hear Joye say on the recording.
Instead, the officer sprays Joye with pepper spray and when his sister tries to identify the police officer, "Get his badge number, get his badge number," she says on the recording, she gets sprayed as well.
"It seems like it's a strong arm robbery, that they took his money, and then when he asked for it back, they maced him in the face," said Robert Marinelli, Joye's attorney.
Attorney Robert Marinelli represents the man who claims the police robbed him.
"Mr. Joye works full time, he has proof of where all that money came from, pays taxes, seemingly robbed by a member of the NYPD," Marinelli said.
A statement by the Police Benevolent Association Wednesday night said "A 35 second long video does not provide enough information about a police encounter to come to any conclusion." And then they blamed the person who documented the incident. "It is time to stop the amateur video activists who interfere with police operations." The NYPD said, "As a result of the allegations, the matter is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau and the CCRB." They would not say if the officer was still working on the streets, but it's not just him.
On Friday the NYPD said that an investigation had determined that Joye was carrying $62 at the time of his arrest, not the $1,300 that his attorney claimed, and that police properly vouchered the confiscated $62.
However, an NYPD Internal Affairs investigation continues, particularly into the pepper spraying. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office is also is investigating.
The officer, a 22-year veteran, has not been suspended and remains on patrol.
"There's one officer standing right next to him and at the end of the video you can see four or five officers just standing on the side and not taking any action," Marinelli said.
Eyewitness News showed the tape to people in the neighborhood.
"It's outrageous, it shouldn't be happening like that, you're supposed to be here to protect and serve, you know you are making people scared of you," a resident said.
"I just think it's too much, that's just too much now. It's good they caught it on camera because people get to see what's going on," another resident said.
Neither Joye or his sister were arrested. The cash was never accounted for.