The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday defended a 14-year-old Bronx, N.Y., boy who reportedly talked so much trash after his arrest on an assault charge that a New York Police Department sergeant allegedly pushed him, causing him to fall through a storefront window, the Daily News reports.
Speaking at a news conference at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, the longtime civil rights activist and MSNBC host raised questions about the officer’s actions and professional training.
The incident reportedly took place on May 17 when the teen, Javier Payne, and a 13-year-old friend were arrested in the Belmont section of the Bronx after allegedly assaulting a 39-year-old man whom they had asked for a cigarette, the News says.
After he was handcuffed, Payne reportedly began talking trash and at some point Sgt. Eliezer Pabon of the 48th Precinct allegedly shoved him, causing him to fall through the window of the Hookah Spot on Arthur Ave., sources told the News. The incident was captured by surveillance video, according to the news site. It was not immediately known exactly what the teen said.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Sharpton said, according to the Daily News. “We cannot have a city where policemen come and shove handcuffed children through windowpanes.”
The News reports that the teen appeared groggy as he sat next to Sharpton in a wheelchair and wore a thick bandage across his forehead. He revealed a gash in his left side closed by 50 staples, the report says.
Edward Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, “denied that the sergeant shoved or pushed the boy into the window, although he acknowledged he hasn’t seen the video,” the News writes. Further, he told the News that union investigators had “determined the window was already damaged before it shattered.”
Sources told the News that the Bronx District Attorney’s Office is in the process of determining whether to bring charges against the sergeant.
Read more at the Daily News.