A New York student has said he is suing the city over an incident in which he was apparently repeatedly struck by a police officer inside his school.
Video footage shows teenager Yordy Aragonez being hit by the officer using his baton. The footage also shows the officer cursing at the student in front of other pupils.
“I was scared. It was a police officer cursing at me, hitting me, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, he is never going to stop and nobody is even trying to break it up’,” 18-year-old Mr Aragonez told NY1.
Mr Aragonez said NYPD Officer Kareem Phillips, who was assigned to the School Safety Division, hit him twice with a baton at Progress High School in Brooklyn. He said the officer intervened after he had become involved in a fight with another pupil.
“I was on the floor, and then he comes in the classroom and slams me into a desk. And I was already on the floor. He was just hitting me. I wasn't even trying to get up or nothing,” he said.
The incident happened in December, and the teenager said he suing the officer and the city for assault and more training for officers placed in schools.
“If believe you have probable cause to arrest him, then place him in handcuffs and take him away,” said Gabriel Harvis, Mr Aragonez’s lawyer. “But what you see on the video is simply an effort to sort of, I don't know what, put on a show for these poor kids that have to watch this officer brutalise young Yordy.”
Mr Phillips, 41, has spent most of his 13 year career assigned to the School Safety Division. He was not available for comment on Saturday but he has previously said he was defending himself.
The New York Police Department has said the incident is being investigated.
“As officers attempted to break up the altercation, an officer used a baton,” an NYPD spokeswoman said.
“As a matter of practice, the incident is under review by the Internal Affairs Bureau.”
