Video footage of an incident that occurred in Western New York last week shows a white off-duty police officer in military-style fatigues assaulting a Black man believed to be mentally ill. Buffalo police have launched an internal investigation regarding the incident.
In the video captured by witness Said Hamideh, the Black man is punched repeatedly by a man who has been identified as Buffalo Officer Richard Hy, who eventually sits on his chest until on-duty police arrive.
The events unfolded in Buffalo, New York, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, as the Black man walked down the street toward Hy, who lunged at him before punching him in the face, and knocking him to the ground.
Hy then sits on top of the man as he is pinned to ground and begins telling bystanders to “call the police.”
People rush closer to conflict, asking Hy, who has previously come under investigation for off-duty encounters with civilians, to stop, as the man struggles under the weight holding him against the ground.
“Get the f-ck off me!” the man says.
Next, there appears to be controversy surrounding an earlier encounter between Hy and the Black man, who remains unidentified. The police reportedly been called earlier after the man caused a disturbance, but he did not meet the requirements to be taken to a psychiatric hospital and officers left the scene.
“This isn’t about race,” says one man in a red shirt, in response to another man’s accusation that Hy is a white supremacist.
“You do no know what happened!” Hy is heard saying. “At least understand the facts before you open your mouth.”
Another man wonders aloud whether or not the Black man is breathing. “Is he breathing though?” he asks.
A woman accuses the man in fatigues of having “crossed the street and punched him in the face for no reason,” and the man in the red shirt appears to defend Hy’s actions further.
Someone approaches the subdued man to check on his well-being.
“You’re breathing, right? You’re good,” the person asks. After the man responds that he is OK, the person asks Hy why he is sitting on the man’s chest, although a response is not audible.
“You shouldn’t sit on his chest,” the person says to Hy, who does not respond.
When another Black man in a wheelchair who is holding a bat asks if Hy is hitting people, he says, “Yeah, I hit him.”
Hy then gives his account of the encounter that occurred prior to the start of the video. “He’s yelling and shouting at people in the street, then he comes over and spits on my car. Then he turned around on me. I’m not going to let him hit me first, man.”
Hy also said the Black man swung a skateboard at him.
Eventually, the police arrive, and Hy moves away. Hamideh said he is not sure if either of the men were arrested. No one has been charged. People are heard urging officers to arrest Hy before the video ends. The officer reportedly denied that he punched the man until after he learned he was being recorded.
Hamideh also said that the man, who he believes is mentally ill, had reportedly been causing disturbances in the neighborhood.
“He apparently flashed some girls a few days before,” Hamideh said. “He was causing problems in the neighborhood that day too. He was shouting incoherently in the street, and people were calling out from the balconies for him to leave,” he told the Daily Mail.
Hamideh also compared the incident to the death of George Floyd, who died in May after an officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes.
Hy was accused of choking and harassing someone while off duty in 2016. Buffalo police are conducting an internal investigation of the most recent incident.
