A video has emerged online showing the moment a Bronx man put an NYPD officer in a headlock while a crowd cheered him. The incident took place as two officers were trying to arrest a man on Grand Concourse and Morris Ave. July 1 when a crowd gathered around them and started shouting.
Seconds later, the officer rushes at a bystander in the crowd. But the man, identified by police sources as Wisnel Manzueta, 29, gets the better of the cop and puts him in a headlock, dragging the officer to the ground.
One man in the group filmed the encounter on his cellphone while cursing and taunting the officers, telling one, “This n—– right here, he act gangster cause he got a badge and a gun.”
“They smoked you, p—-! You just got smoked, p—-!” the man taking the video yells, as the headlock suspect runs off.
Manzueta surrendered alongside his lawyer at the 46th Precinct stationhouse a week later, authorities say.
Though he was initially charged by police, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s office deferred prosecution, meaning Manzueta remains free as prosecutors continue to investigate the case and weigh whether charges are merited.
“The NYPD was disappointed that the individual was not charged initially,” said Sgt. Jessica McRorie, an NYPD spokeswoman. “The violence against the police officer speaks for itself. We are now in discussions with the District Attorney regarding the case.”
That was a sore spot for police sources, who pointed out that he remains free while state cops can now be arrested for placing a suspect in a chokehold under a new state law.
“Our city needs to wake up to the fact that our leaders have surrendered the streets to chaos,” said Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the NYPD’s largest union. “This was a near-riot situation where a cop is fighting for his life, and somehow his attacker was allowed to go free.”
The Sergeants Benevolent Association which first tweeted out the video on Saturday, and its president, Ed Mullins, were more blunt on social media.
“COREY JOHNSON your STUPID law is about to be signed by NYC STUPID Mayor it’s time you both take your community input & grab these perps yourself,” the SBA posted on Twitter, tweeting at Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Mayor de Blasio.
Watch the video below. WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
DeBlasio is a FAILURE in every sense of the word. The only Mayor in America where the people have a petition to have him removed. An honorable profession in the NYPD has been destroyed by one man who simply hates cops. https://t.co/MJg8eih6RA
— SBA (@SBANYPD) July 12, 2020
