NYPD cops brutally beat 19-year-old Jateik Reed for resisting arrest and carrying drugs in 2012. Drugs were never found and the case was dismissed in court. Reed then filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Now New York City has settled the lawsuit with Reed, who is now 24, for the amount of $614,500, his lawyers announced earlier this month.
Reed’s mother and two young brothers were also plaintiffs in the suit. The settlement was approved in July 2016, but the checks were not issued until December, NBC reports.
It all started in January 2012 when New York City police officers from the 42nd Precinct conducted a stop-and-frisk on Reed because they suspected him of possessing cocaine and marijuana.
But Reed began to tussle with officers, attempting to escape.
Using batons, the officers beat Reed while slamming him to the sidewalk. The officers then begin to punch, kick and hit the victim, screaming, “Put your hands behind your back!”
Detective Robert Jaquez then pepper sprayed a witness recording the melee, ordering him to “Move back!” For his reckless tough guy antics, the court made Detective Jaquez pay $500 toward the settlement.
All of the officers involved were disciplined by the NYPD. So much as to the fact that all officers involved in the beat down were stripped of their badges and guns during the initial point of the investigation.
Also, Sergeant Alfonsina Delacruz, who is one of the officers involved in the beating, was court ordered to contribute $5,000 to the settlement.
Why?
Well, once Reed was detained and in handcuffs, the female sergeant calmly approached Reed and kicked him for no apparent reason while he was down on the ground defenseless and imposing no threat as you can see in the second video below.
Also on the day of the incident, Reed’s mother, friend and two young brothers went to police headquarters for answers, but police arrested them for disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting arrest. Those charges were dropped too.
“The 42nd Precinct has been doing corrupt things for years,” says Schuan Reed, Jateilk Reed’s mother.
“I think the officers should lose their jobs for beating my son because he didn’t do nothing wrong. If they had not taken that videotape, who knows how long he would have had to spend in jail because it was his word against theirs.”
Jateilk Reed wants the officers that beat him fired, saying: “I’m not satisfied because I could’ve been killed there. Police officers are humans just like us. They’re supposed to enforce the law — not be above the law.”
Of the settlement, Reed is getting $480,000, his mother $65,000, and his brothers $55,000. The rest goes to Reed’s two friends, one who was pepper sprayed on scene and the other who was with Reed’s mother at the police headquarters. Reed’s lawyers hope that this expensive lesson will send a strong message to NYPD and other police departments.
The post WATCH: NYPD Settles Lawsuit in Teenage Brutality Case Where Witness was Pepper Sprayed for Recording appeared first on PINAC News.