Teen Punched By Cop At BK Station To File $5M Lawsuit: Complaint

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — One of the teenagers who was punched by an NYPD officer in a violent arrest at Jay Street/MetroTech station plans to file a $5 million lawsuit against the city, records show.

15-year-old Benjamin Marshall and his family filed a notice on Wednesday that they plan to sue the city, the NYPD and the cop who punched Marshall in the face during the police-versus-teenager brawl, which broke out at the Downtown Brooklyn station on Saturday and then went viral when a video of it was posted online.

Marshall was "doing nothing wrong" when one of the cops, who has since been transferred from the 84th Precinct, came up and punched him in the face, his attorney said. He would end up pinned to the ground as at least five officers wrangle him into handcuffs, video shows.

"This police officer's actions were out of control," Sanford Rubenstein, Marshall's lawyer, said. "For a police officer to punch a 15-year-old in the face when he was doing nothing wrong is simply unacceptable."

The officers were initially called to the station for a fight and ended up arresting Marshall, three 18-year-olds and a 16-year-olds, according to reports. Marshall's lawsuit disputes his arrest, where he was charged with assaulting a police officer.

Marshall was sent to the 84th Precinct, where he would be held for 12 hours without any medical attention, the lawsuit claims.

He was eventually brought to the hospital and kept overnight, but ended up going back a day later because his back and head were in so much pain, according to medical records.

Doctors diagnosed Marshall with a concussion, an abrasion on his forehead, a back sprain and likely a derangement of a disc in his back, medical records show.

"[Marshall] was beaten, kicked, tackled, kneed and punched by the [police officers] and they did assault [him] when they punched his face, head, neck and back," the complaint reads.

The unidentified cop who punched Marshall, and can be seen throwing punches at other teenagers in the video, had multiple previous complaints filed against him with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, including the use of force, sources told the New York Post.

The sources said he was moved from the 84th Precinct to the Brooklyn detective squad, where he'll stay on full duty.

The violent brawl came just a day after video of another Brooklyn subway arrest went viral online. In that arrest, officers throw a man to the ground in a subway car at Crown Height's Franklin Avenue station as about a dozen other officers surround him.

Both incidents have led a growing number of elected officials calling for an investigation into the arrests.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has called for the officer who is seen punching the teens to be put on modified duty until an investigation is completed. He and some of the teenagers involved in the incident held a rally about it at Brooklyn Borough Hall on Monday.