A teenager who was beaten by police during a stop outside the Flushing YMCA is taking his case to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. On January 8th, a bystander took this video of 19-year-old Robert Jackson being struck and kicked by a group of five police officers while he screams in pain.
Three officers appear to have Jackson subdued, but at the 0:31 mark, a fourth officer approaches and strikes Jackson with a blunt object, causing him to again flail his legs as more officers arrive.
According to documents obtained by the Post, Jackson was making "profanity threats" against one of the officers, which led to the stop. He was charged with marijuana possession, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration. His attorney is asking for the charges to be dropped because Jackson is "an innocent victim of police brutality.”
Jackson also has four prior arrests, including one in August for criminal possession of a weapon. His other arrest records are sealed. The Post describes him as having a "badly bruised" face from the altercation. “Its unfortunate that this could happen to somebody like me when cops are supposed to be protecting us,” he said.
If the CCRB determines that police committed wrongdoing and recommend punishment, there's a reasonably good chance that the NYPD will mete it out: in 2012 the department followed CCRB recommendations in 72% of cases. Then again, Commissioner Ray Kelly recently overrode the board's decision to punish a detective caught on camera using "gratuitous force" with a suspect.
