Wow! A shocking video is surfacing the internet of an NYPD cop punching a woman in the face, which led her to fall to the ground after authorities say she was trying to stop another person from being arrested. In the footage, you can see Tamani Crum walking up to officers from the 32nd Precinct in Harlem and then suddenly an officer punched her to the ground.
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Witnesses can be heard screaming, “Why would you do that?” as she lies on the ground holding her face. Officers then put Crum in handcuffs and took her into custody.
The NYPD released a statement regarding the incident saying, “while police were effecting the arrest multiple individuals on scene interfered by physically assaulting numerous officers. One officer sustained a minor injury to the head.”
“He shouldn’t have never, never put his hands on her or any female, he’s wrong, he’s wrong,” Crum’s grandmother said. She joined the National Action Network on Wednesday to call out the officer’s actions and demand accountability.
“He cold knocked her out, he’s no better than the people whose knocking out people in the streets,” she said. Activists say the officer went too far and that he should be better trained to handle a situation like this one. “You mean to tell me a grown man more than twice her size in weight could not handle a 19-year-old female in a different manner?” said Crum’s attorney, Jaime Santana Jr.
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“When did it become a tactic for crowd control to knock somebody else unconscious?” said Rev. Stephan Marshall with the National Action Network.
The Detectives Endowment Association says it’s easy to judge, but in the heat of the moment, officers are thinking about the safety of everyone around. “This could have been a travesty where members of the NYPD and civilians could have been shot by this individual if he didn’t take the action, he took,” DiGiacomo said.