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Letitia James calls out NYPD for ‘unequal’ social distancing enforcement of minorities
The New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday that she is looking into reports that the NYPD is targeting minorities for aggressive enforcement of social distancing.
“The apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies is deeply troubling, and deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are tasked to protect,” James said in a statement.
“It is inherently wrong to aggressively police one group of people, yet ignore another group that commits the same infraction,” James continued. “The NYPD must better ensure that a New Yorker’s race, color, and neighborhood does not determine how they are patrolled.”
James called on the NYPD to address the issue as reports and videos have surfaced on social media showing violent arrests during social distancing calls in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
The AG’s office highlighted one video taken in the East Village May 2 that showed a black man being tackled, punched and dragged on the sidewalk before the officer — who moments earlier had his Taser out — knelt on his neck and handcuffed him.
A video taken a day later shows officers approaching a group in front of Brownsville homes and one of the people was flipped on his stomach by an officer.
Instead of making arrests in majority-white neighborhoods, however, cops just issued summonses and gave out masks to thousands of people who violated social distancing rules in public parks, the AG’s office said.
As a result, James says her office is looking into the matter.
Last Friday, the AG’s office sent a request to the NYPD to turn over documents and training materials on how the department is being instructed to handle social distancing enforcement, data from 311 calls of alleged violations of social distancing rules and data from arrests and summonses related to social distancing violations.
Earlier Wednesday, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea passionately defended the force.
“I will also not have my Police Department called a racist police department,” Shea said at a press conference.
The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment.
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