WASHINGTON, February 2 (Sputnik) — The New Rochelle police officer is shown in a video, with two police cars in the background, using profanity while ordering the already-kneeling young men to remain down.
“Don’t f-----g move guys,” he shouted.
He then walks over to one youth, points the gun at him, frisking him with one hand while holding onto his firearm.
The witness filming the is video is heard saying that the young men were only having a snowball fight.
"They were having a snowball fight. This group of guys was having a snowball fight and now the cop is pointing the gun on them," she said.
Meanwhile, the police deny that the officer acted inappropriately. While admitting that "the video looks terrible," the New Rochelle Police Department claims it's taken "out of context."
“There was no snowball fight,” New Rochelle Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Murphy told the New York Daily News, calling the video a piece of “clever mischief.”
He said police were responding to a 911 call around 4 p.m. Friday, saying a teenager standing in a group of six near the Heritage Houses had pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at another person.
“We dispatched several cars to the area. Police officers got out of their cars and one of the individuals bent down, adjusted something in his waistband and ran,” Murphy said. “The group was compliant. (At the same time) the other cop is in foot pursuit of the suspect that had the gun. The suspect runs into an apartment house and into an unknown apartment.”
Police claim they did not catch the suspect.
