The city is suffering from an “epidemic’’ of people recording cops making arrests, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Wednesday — as his department investigates shocking video of a Harlem officer pointing a gun at onlookers filming a bust and then punching one of them.
“When you interfere with a police officer making a lawful arrest, you with your cameras attempt to really get into it — I’m not talking about standing back 10, 15 feet — or incite by yelling and screaming, raising the tension level, then you are creating circumstances that are dangerous for the public and dangerous for the police officers,” Bratton said after an event in Manhattan.
“This has become a very serious — I would almost describe it as an epidemic in this country,” Bratton said.
“Communities are going to have to make up their mind: Do that want law enforcement, or do they want mob rule?”
He added that there are outstanding questions over the videotaped incident.
“Why did he pull his weapon? What was going through his mind that resulted in him pulling his weapon. The punching of one of the people who was evidently filming the incident as the officer exited — we want to understand that also,’’ Bratton said.
Police Officer Risel Martinez, 26, was stripped of his gun and badge Friday after a video posted on Instagram showed him pointing his weapon at bystanders during an arrest.
The 32nd Precinct anti-crime-unit cop is seen wrestling Dayshawn Bettway, 21, to the ground inside a public-housing building on St. Nicholas Avenue on Thursday.
A person standing near the scuffle was filming the arrest when the officer, grappling with the suspect, slowly pulls his firearm from his holster and aims it directly at the camera.
“Back up!” the officer screams as the camera suddenly jolts.
“Back! Up!” he demands again as the video cuts out.
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Another clip shows the officer leaving the building, where he encounters Jahnico Harvey, 19, and punches him in the head before wrestling him to the ground. Harvey is believed to have been among those filming the bust.
The violence began when Bettway and another man riding dirt bikes began circling a pair of cops trying to ticket the driver of a double-parked Hyundai outside the housing project.
After the video surfaced, Bettway was arrested and charged with assault, reckless endangerment, obstruction of government administration and resisting arrest. He was arraigned Friday night and freed without bail.
Harvey also was arrested and charged with menacing and disorderly conduct. He was issued a desk-appearance ticket.
The Hyundai was later found nearby with marijuana and 25 rounds of live ammunition inside, cops said. They also discovered the vehicle had been stolen in Connecticut. The two people who were inside the car had fled.