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An NYPD officer has been accused of stealing over $1,000 from a Brooklyn man last month, then pepper-spraying both the man and his sister.
The Sep. 16 incident, which was captured on camera, happened in the midst of a stop-and-frisk near a Coney Island basketball court. The officer allegedly reached into the pocket of 35-year-old Lamard Joye, stealing what Joye said was $1,300. Joye's attorney, Robert Marinelli, told the New York Times that this took place on his client's birthday, and that the construction worker had withdrawn the legally obtained money to take his wife out for the evening.
According to Marinelli, the officer took Joye's money because he assumed it wasn't earned honestly. "I believe that this officer made an assumption that any money Mr. Joye possessed was obtained illegally and therefore he would not report the theft," he explained to the Times. "This assumption was wrong."
When Joye demanded the officer return his money, he was pepper-sprayed in the face. The same happened to his sister when she attempted to get the officer's name and badge number.
A spokesperson for the NYPD offered this explanation of the officer's actions to the New York Daily News:
The incident was precipitated by a call of a man with a gun. When officers arrived at the scene, they encountered numerous people at the location. As a result of the allegations, the matter is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau and Civilian Complaint Review Board.
In a statement, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said his office was "aware of the alleged incident and it is being actively and thoroughly investigated."
[via New York Times and New York Daily News]
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