Mayor Eric Adams pledged Thursday to visit the Staten Island school near the place a cop was caught on video thrashing a teen girl earlier this week.
Town continues to be up in arms after a cop was filmed hammering down blows on a 14-year-old girl who had been concerned in an after-school brawl on Tuesday. Fourteen-year NYPD veteran Nicholas Scalzo responded to a brawl near I.S. 51, the place three women had been preventing at a bus cease.
In accordance to police, the 14-year-old girl (identify withheld due to her age) allegedly attacked officer Scalzo after he tried to break up the struggle, which led to a disturbing video during which the cop was seen raining down hammered fists upon the younger girl.
Staten Island natives, together with teenagers themselves have expressed outrage at seeing a white officer beat a younger girl of colour.
“I’m shocked and scared to see yet another example of cops around our schools causing us harm. My sister goes to school around the corner from where this happened—what’s going to stop officers from beating up on us too? There is absolutely no excuse for a cop to beat up on anyone—much less a teenager,” Make the Highway New York youth member Brielka Rodriguez stated in a press release.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell responded to the general public outcry on Jan. 5 throughout an unrelated press convention.
“Very few people who saw that video were not concerned. The force the officer used to stop that interference in that arrest to custodialize that person is what is under investigation,” Sewell stated.
Officer Scalzo has been suspended from responsibility and is going through an investigation from the NYPD Inner Affairs Bureau. Mayor Adams counseled Sewell for the swift suspension and agreed that the incident was troubling, going so far as calling it horrifying.
“I was horrified to see the way a well-trained officer would respond in an incident like that,” the mayor stated.
Nonetheless, the mayor additionally criticized youth tradition and the struggle which led up to the assault. Adams declared he would take it upon himself to visit the school and examine why such a confrontation between teenagers was even going down.
“When you see some of these actions, when you see the just total disregard for human life is really challenging to just know the impact of what the victims are going through and how these young people are destroying their lives as what happened,” Adams stated. “I commend the police commissioner and the Internal Affairs Bureau for taking swift action.”
“Let’s get over to that school and find out what’s going on,” Adams added.