New York City Police Officer Joel Edouard has been charged with assault after he allegedly kicked a subdued suspect’s head in an incident captured on video, the New York Post reports. Edouard, 37, is set to be arraigned on Tuesday, the site notes.
The controversial arrest in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of the borough of Brooklyn occurred last July, just days after Eric Garner was killed while being arrested by NYPD officers in Staten Island, another New York City borough. Jahmil-El Cuffee, the suspect, can be seen in the video being taken down to the ground by officers.
“Help me! Help me!” the 32-year-old can be heard screaming in the video. “I didn’t do nothing.”
Police say that they saw Cuffee rolling a joint outside while they were on patrol, prompting the incident. Cuffee showed his ID, but the cops say that he started to resist as they tried to arrest him. As officers continue to subdue Cuffee, Edouard can be seen apparently kicking Cuffee’s head. Cuffee, the Post notes, suffered minor injuries.
“I just want it all to stop,” Cuffee said in July in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, referring to Garner’s death. “[I’m] a little sore, but I’m all right. I’ll be all right.”
Read more at the New York Post.