Cell phone video showed four New York City Police officers piling on top of a Black man accused of illegally selling candy on a Harlem subway platform.
The footage posted on Twitter Tuesday by a representative of the activist movement Decolonize This Place showed Byron Shark’s legs flailing as onlookers shouted at cops to stop.
“He did not do nothing,” a woman could be heard yelling.
“Y’all n—as is bugging, bro,” a man shouted.
Another bystander accused the officers of failing to read man his rights.
NYPD Transit responded to the recent video with a tweet Wednesday.
“Our officers took this man into custody after he failed to comply and refused to provide identification as they attempted to issue him a summons for a transit violation,” the agency said. “He was arrested and charged with Obstructing Governmental Administration.”
Police also said in an interview with WNBC Shark resisted when officers tried to arrest him for peddling and they were forced to bring him to the ground.
He has been arrested eight times since 2013 for charges including assault, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing with a weapon, police told WNBC.
His recent arrest has attracted attention on social media as the latest in an uptick of police activity on subways following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to deploy 500 added police officers to fight fare evasion.
“This year we succeeded in making historic reforms to the MTA and provided significant new funding streams that will overhaul the system,” Cuomo said in a June news release.
“But the MTA is still plagued by problems of public safety, attacks against transit workers and persistent fare evasion – issues that have only worsened in recent years.”
Advocates, however, said in the string of recent arrests officers went too far.
An NYPD officer was shown on video sucker punching a Black teen during a Brooklyn subway brawl last month, and an unarmed Black man holding his hands in the air attracted the attention of 10 NYPD cops on a subway train Oct. 25 in Brooklyn.
Related: Black Teen Sucker Punched by NYPD Officer During Subway Brawl Files $5M Civil Suit
Just this month, two different churro vendors were removed from Brooklyn stations and issued summons within days of each other, prompting a rally Wednesday at Brooklyn’s Broadway Junction station.
Decolonize This Place is planning another protest in Harlem Nov. 22 to protest the increased showing of force.
“Increased police presence and ramped issuing of fines is an unacceptable war on the poor, largely IBPOC,” the activists group tweeted Wednesday. “It’s also an MTA predatory revenue generator like traffic tickets to pay bills.”
