Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the team of police officers responsible for beating a man inside a Brooklyn liquor store last week has been disbanded — and announced a 90-day “top to bottom” review of the NYPD's narcotics section.
Mamdani announced the steps at a press conference where he made an unrelated child care announcement Tuesday, saying again that videos of the beating by two police officers in the store across from the Gowanus Houses were “deeply disturbing.”
An NYPD spokesperson has said officers mistook the man they arrested for someone they suspected of taking part in an undercover drug-dealing investigation.
A nearly eight-minute video taken by a liquor store customer shows police officers wrestling with and punching the man repeatedly in the face and body. Bystanders can be heard yelling at the officers to stop, and blood can be seen on the ground.
An NYPD spokesperson said the disbanding of the team was done at Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch's direction and noted the officers involved in the beating were put on modified duty the same day the video circulated online.
Mamdani said the review of the narcotics section would be comprehensive and will focus on training, equipment and operational practices.
“That includes stricter oversight of body-worn camera requirements during arrests,” he said. “The entire team that was part of that operation has been disbanded."
The captain who led the team and other officers who worked in it have been reassigned, he said.
An NYPD spokesperson said the chief of department will lead the 90-day review. As part of the process, commanding officers assigned to narcotics will have to show all aspects of enforcement are being handled properly, including how officers handle money used in operations and how they interact with confidential informants.
In addition, a team in the department’s legal bureau will audit narcotics units to ensure they’re complying with department policy, the NYPD said.
An NYPD spokesperson said the officers were transferred on Friday, two days after video of the beating circulated online.
Mamdani said the accountability actions were being taken because constituents in the neighborhood raised a number of concerns about how police were interacting with residents.
