Source: NY Daily News
In yet another disturbing video, a crowd of New York Police Department officers are seen dragging a topless, asthmatic woman out of her apartment and leaving her on the floor after she complained that she couldn’t breathe.
The arrest took place July 13, but the video has only recently caught major media attention.
Internal Affairs has now launched an investigation after the video was released to the public.
The video shows what appears to be about a dozen police officers swarming around 48-year-old Denise Stewart in response to a 911 call reporting domestic violence.
According to a Legal Aid attorney who was assigned to the case, the 911 call actually came from the apartment above Stewart’s.
Family members say that is what Stewart was trying to explain to officers before she was dragged out of her apartment wrapped in a towel.
The New York Daily News reported that Stewart attempted to close the door after she told officers they were at the wrong apartment and that’s when things took a turn for the worse.
Around 11:45 p.m. the chaotic scene started to unfold with family members and neighbors screaming at the officers for their treatment of the topless woman.
On the video, the mother of four can be heard complaining that she can’t breathe before yelling for someone to go get her oxygen.
Neighbors who were recording the hectic arrest were heard telling officers that Stewart had asthma.
“Yo, her mother got asthma … y’all wicked, y’all f*****g wicked!” one woman screams off-camera.
“Her asthma! Her asthma! Her asthma!” another woman is heard yelling.
When a young man asks why no female officers are dealing with the woman, a male voice, assumed to be a police officer, answers by calling out, “This is none of your business.”
The video is over two minutes long. The mother is heard screaming in the midst of the swarm of male police officers.
Source: NY Daily News
Eventually, one female officer is seen on camera but does not take over – allowing the male cops to continue attempting to handcuff Stewart.
According to the Daily News, officers also took Stewart’s two sons and two daughters out of the apartment and cuffed them.
Family members say officers also pepper-sprayed Stewart’s 4-year-old grandson.
Meanwhile, officers insisted that there was evidence of abuse on Stewart’s 12-year-old daughter and said she has “visible injuries” on her face.
The city’s Administration for Children’s Services was called to investigate the matter but said there were actually no signs of neglect or abuse.
When asked if she had been hit, the young girl did say that her mother and older sister hit her with a belt; however, she also refused to be taken from the home.
Once placed in the police car, the young girl kicked out the window of the vehicle and was charged with assaulting a police officer, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon.
One of Stewart’s sons was charged with resisting arrest.
Stewart and her 20-year-old daughter were charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon.
Stewart’s lawyer, Amy Rameau, said the officers acted in a “deplorable manner” and added that her client “feels completely mortified.”
