NEW YORK — An NYPD cop was suspended after he was caught on video pummeling a 12-year-old girl while trying to break up an after-school brawl on Staten Island, police said Wednesday.
The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau was looking into the incident as a video surfaced on social media of an officer repeatedly punching the child’s head as teens try to pull the girl away from the cops.
The assault took place as cops responded to a fight between kids at a bus stop near the Edwin Markham Middle School in Port Richmond about 2:40 p.m. Tuesday, cops said.
During the fight, two sisters, ages 12 and 14, were assaulting a 14-year-old girl, cops said.
The cop was assaulted by the girls as he tried to break up the fight. The officer assaulted the 12-year-old girl during the melee, police sources said.
“Last evening, the NYPD became aware of an incident that occurred on Staten Island where officers responded to a fight between a group of youths,” the NYPD said in a Tweet early Wednesday. “The actions of those officers is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau. At this time, one officer has been suspended.”
“He’s hitting her? What the (expletive)!” one girl off camera screams.
“Don’t do that!” another teen is heard shouting.
The cops were at a fixed post near the school when they were called to the bus stop, which is about a block away from school grounds.
The 14-year-old girl was charged with assault. Cops wrote up a juvenile report on the 12-year-old girl.
The extent of the 12-year-old girl’s injuries was not immediately clear.
