Less than a month after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by Ohio police, video of an NYPD officer arresting and repeatedly punching another 12-year-old child has surfaced.
In the disturbing video, which you can view above, you can see three cops holding the boy against the car while a plainclothes officer runs up and punches the child. You can hear the boy and his young friend repeatedly ask officers why they are being arrested. A bystander vows to make a formal complaint, yelling at the officers that she “can’t believe [they] just did that.”
According to an actress who uploaded the video to Facebook, Sarah Doneghy, the two were approached by police for allegedly pushing down a classmate. In the video, the boys are held against two separate vehicles for several minutes before they’re put in the cars in handcuffs.
“This is not a war, this is a 12-year-old kid,” said one woman who identified herself as a lawyer. “They’re animals right?”
The classmate allegedly denied the two boys were the suspects when asked. Police still took the two boys away, saying the assault was part of a gang initiation and identifying the boys as 16 and 17-years-old.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is currently investigating.
SOURCE: Think Progress | VIDEO SOURCE: YouTube
