Critics take aim at NYPD over 2 incidents at Brooklyn subway stations
BROOKLYN (WABC) -- Critics are taking aim at the NYPD after two incidents at subway stations in Brooklyn last week they say went too far.
In one case a teenager was punched by a cop. In the other, a packed subway car was held at gunpoint. Now there are calls for better training and an investigation.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams spoke out Monday and said he was angry about the actions of the officer who punched at least two teenagers on a subway platform Friday.
"You cannot openly punch a young person in the face merely because you are caught up in the aggression of the moment," Adams said. "That is how you have dangerous encounters take place."
The incident occurred after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers and spilled out onto the subway platform of the Jay Street- MetroTech station.
Meanwhile at City Hall, a similar protest about police response took place Monday in response to a video that shows police with guns drawn at Franklin Avenue while a suspect sat with arms in the air.
"What happens when systems see black and brown bodies doing the same things sometimes that other communities do - the response is always over-zealousness, always overreaction, always excessive force," said NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Adams was a police officer for 22 years and said the incidents are troubling.
"The actions of that officer were an embarrassment to the police department, an embarrassment to the officers who did what they were supposed to do and it was an embarrassment to the people of the city of New York and he should be placed on modified assignment," Adams said.
The officer involved in the incident at the Jay Street station will be placed in a non-enforcement assignment as the investigation continues.
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