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The New York Police Department is getting some negative attention after an incident on October 25 where, due to an increased crackdown surrounding fare hoppers on the NYC subway, police swarmed an unarmed 19-year-old on the train, drawing guns and causing a panic among passengers.
A video of the arrest, captured by a bystander, has gone viral on Twitter.
In case you’re wondering how an arrest in NYC goes down. The guy has made absolutely no indication that he would fl… https://t.co/SnnfISKsZY— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572037692.0
The video was posted to Twitter by Elad Nehorai, who also wrote:
"If you can't see, the reason everyone moved was because all the police had taken out their guns and aimed at him."
For those unaware, the NYPD has upped its presence in subways in order to capture what are often simply people with… https://t.co/R5Zc8j4pCT— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572185784.0
Even when I was in the train and fully aware he might have a gun, the only scary thing about the experience was the… https://t.co/kao8LBUsCj— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572185795.0
The young man, 19-year-old Adrian Napier, was found to have no weapons before police arrested him for fare evasion. He ran from police at the previous station and jumped onto a subway car, which was held at the next stop so he could be taken into custody.
After the video of nearly a dozen police mobbing the unarmed teen went viral, the NYPD issued a statement via Twitter claiming they had spoken with a credible witness who said the 19-year-old was "brandishing a gun."
Despite this statement, however, many bystanders were understandably disturbed by the scene.
My sons were in this train car. My 10-year-old came home inconsolable. How do we, as parents, even begin to speak t… https://t.co/5LctyRO9h1— Yolanda Sangweni (@Yolanda Sangweni)1572109403.0
Nehori told The Washington Post:
"After that one policeman took his gun out, two or three more took them out. For a moment, they were kind of pointing guns at everyone who was in that vicinity."
The city's Civilian Complaint Review Board also reached out to Nehori on Twitter with tips on how to file a complaint.
@jessfauve @PopChassid Hi @PopChassid. Here through @jessfauve. The CCRB takes allegations of police misconduct ser… https://t.co/yUOGGhJAg7— NYC CCRB (@NYC CCRB)1572190372.0
Nehori continued writing about the incident in a thread, showing his perspective.
FYI the reason I shared this was because it seemed painfully clear that if anything had gone wrong, that young man… https://t.co/0zhjESFaDj— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572038081.0
Ok, Shabbat is over. Some observations in no particular order: 1. In the car, no one was scared of the young man.… https://t.co/c17mgWhRRP— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572131864.0
4. Just as disturbing was beforehand hearing all the other young black men scared of what might happen. You could t… https://t.co/LGeyHcR61Z— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572131971.0
Here is the NYPD response after a request for information about why this occurred as it did. Dumbfounding. https://t.co/cHHOij23AK— Elad Nehorai (@Elad Nehorai)1572136036.0
Everyone on Twitter seems to agree the increased policing of fare evasion has had mostly negative side effects.
In the NYC subway, there has been such an influx of new cops - nominally to fight fare evasion - it seems to have l… https://t.co/ZjEgKQRoDP— Rebecca J. Kavanagh (@Rebecca J. Kavanagh)1572165369.0
This is the Giuliani mentality at work here from the 1990's brutality of the NYPD. The police are still as crazy a… https://t.co/kbEzjonpU1— janetmoulton (@janetmoulton)1572194942.0
It’s a very dumb idea. The NYC subway already gets over packed and now to see the faces of 500 new stupid police fo… https://t.co/GY4nrNzshn— Sensei shmensei (@Sensei shmensei)1572343767.0
This is what hopping the train gets now. Count the amount of police then multiply by the hourly wage of each and tg… https://t.co/eVSCeZgdRd— Ayishagisel (@Ayishagisel)1572226404.0
@DrRJKavanagh I cannot believe the NYC subway system!! @BilldeBlasio - I am from Toronto-we have fare inspectors -… https://t.co/dcxCR7OkdN— Blake L (@Blake L)1572154625.0
Surely we can all agree that a dozen officers with guns drawn aren't necessary to arrest a young man who evaded a $3 fare?