Fight Between Officer, Suspect Caught On Video In Harlem
UPDATED 07/03/15 9:07 p.m.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- NYPD Internal Affairs was investigating Thursday night, after a video surfaced of a street confrontation in Harlem that turned into a fight between an officer and a suspect.
Police said Saykou George, 30, was stopped around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at 131st Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, after being seen in a public space with a knife.
He allegedly became disorderly and pushed the officer who stopped him.
A bystander's video allegedly showed George handing his ID to the plainclothes officer. He grows agitated when the officer does not return the ID to him.
Police alleged George pushed the officer and made a boxing stance.
The confrontation then escalated into a shoving match, as seen in the video. The officer allegedly punched George as he shoved back.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton weighed in on the incident.
"You have no right, no right under New York law to resist arrest, which was going on based on what I'm seeing on that video," Bratton said. "He didn't surrender. He now has additional charges against him. We will process this through the courts."
Bratton said he saw nothing inappropriate with the officer's behavior.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch also said the suspect was resisting and the officers did the right thing.
"This is a text book example of an individual who was spotted with a weapon resisting arrest, attempting to walk away and the two police officers involved doing exactly what they must do to take the man into custody," Lynch said in part in a statement. "Given the current atmosphere on the streets today, people mistakenly think that they have the right to resist arrest and that inevitably leads to confrontation and potential injury. The use of force in making an arrest is always ugly but is absolutely necessary and appropriate when the suspect resists."
Eventually, other officers arrived at the scene to help arrest the man identified as George.
George was charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, and being disorderly, police said.
