A suspect accused of assaulting a Mount Vernon parking enforcement officer was later pummeled by two of the six police officers who tried to subdue him.
Police have determined that actions during the arrest amounted to excessive force.
The suspect, Stephen Kinlaw, was lying on the sidewalk on South Fourth Avenue Friday afternoon, with one police officer stretched across his feet and four others trying to handcuff him.
Detective Nicholas Smith, on his knees alongside the suspect, then unleashed a flurry of at least a dozen punches to the man’s upper body, as seen on cellphone video shot by someone in the crowd that had gathered.
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Another video from a different angle showed Smith's punches less clearly. That video clearly showed one of the other five officers lying on the ground in the scrum of cops and punching Kinlaw six times.
The arrest came shortly after Kinlaw allegedly shoved and choked the parking officer and knocked him to the ground at the corner of Gramatan and West Prospect avenues.
Jennifer Lackard, the deputy police commissioner for special initiatives, said in an email Sunday that she expected the probe into the use of force to wrap up as soon as Monday afternoon.
“While the investigation is ongoing, we do know that regardless of the circumstance, the videos clearly show that excessive force was used,” said Lackard, who joined the department last month. She did not identify the other officer who punched Kinlaw or specify what actions by police were excessive.
She called Friday's events "troubling, at best" and said the department is "moving as swiftly, thoroughly and strategically as possible to align our disciplinary, training and community engagement initiatives" with police reforms, including those ordered by Gov. Andrew Coumo in June.
Online records for the Westchester County jail show that Kinlaw was booked there Friday on a charge of second-degree strangulation, a misdemeanor. He has a City Court appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
Smith, who joined the department more than a decade ago, was named Officer of the Year by the Mount Vernon Police Foundation in 2016 for an incident that took place in January when he shot a burglary suspect in the leg after the man pulled a gun out as Smith was chasing him.
The police department posted on its Facebook page Saturday that it was investigating the use of force and asked anyone with information or video of the arrest to contact them by texting MVPD and the information to TIP411 (847411) or emailing to socialmedia@PD.cmvny.com.
Twitter: @jonbandler
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