Punching Isn't Excessive Force, NYPD Commissioner Says

NEW YORK CITY — Cops who beat a man during a social distance crackdown in Manhattan last weekend were just following police protocol, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday.

"A punch is something we actually train for in the police academy," Shea said at the mayor's daily press briefing. "A punch should not be assumed to be excessive force."

Mayor Bill de Blasio defended police caught on video violently enforcing safety regulations in Manhattan and Brooklyn amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, but declined to specify what training NYPD officers received.

"This is something we're all learning as we build out the approach," said de Blasio. "We don't have every perfect rule in place. One thing that's true, for this to work, there has to be enforcement."

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Two days after the violent Lower East Side arrest, video surfaced of yet another brutal police encounter in Brooklyn's 75th precinct, which outraged New Yorkers noted also involved NYPD officers hitting a person of color.

The NYPD commissioner saw another similarity, he said.

"The common denominator is starting with a lack of compliance," Shea said. "We need people to work together. Work with the officers."

Several lawmakers raised questions about NYPD de-escalation training and called for an investigation into the officers involved.

"Proper public safety interaction isn't about ego. It's about deescalation," tweeted Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. "This officer's actions were unacceptable."

"Regardless of what transpired before the video, what is the justification for the rage?" tweeted City Council Member Carlina Rivera "Where's the professionalism and de-escalation tactics we should expect?"

Shea and de Blasio argued New Yorkers who did not follow NYPD instructions — which they argue will save lives amid the mounting pandemic — should expect enforcement.

"I want to remind everyone its a two-way street," de Blasio said during his press briefing Tuesday. "Respect goes both ways."

But even police representatives have raised concerns over the efficacy of asking armed NYPD officers to enforce the city's social distancing policies, which ask New Yorkers stand six feet apart and wear face coverings in public.

"The NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether," said Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch.

"The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves."

The debate over social distance enforcement wages as New York City prepares to shut down its subways, for the first time in its history, every night between 1 and 5 a.m., starting Wednesday.

Police will be asked to help close stations and empty trains so that the MTA can conduct a thorough cleaning of its cars.

"I really think it is the right policy," said Shea. "Clearly it will rely serious effort by the NYPD."

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