You might call this one a case where the punishment doesn’t quite fit the crime.
20-year-old Donovan Lawson got caught trying to fare beat last night at the Myrtle Avenue-Broadway JMZ station in New York, as young people are sometimes wont to do. Stupid? Sure. But did it warrant the responding police officer’s response? Definitely not.
After Lawson was accosted by an NYPD officer and refused to show ID, the officer attempted to arrest him. Lawson seemingly “resisted” by climbing onto a bench, and the officer responded by smashing Lawson in the head with his nightstick. After the sickening sound of the stick hitting Lawson’s head, it doesn’t take long to see the blood gushing everywhere as a visibly woozy Lawson staggers all over the station trying to get away from his attacker.
He was finally restrained and arrested, but first had to be taken to the hospital for treatment on his head wound. He was charged with fare beating, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and obstructing government administration. The officer is under investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Department.
[via Gawker]
