The NYPD is under fire again after an incident that occurred in September has surfaced via a cell phone video. In the clip, officers approach an outdoor birthday gathering in Brooklyn and appear to take cash from a man before pepper spraying him and another person.
Lamard Joye, 35, was celebrating his birthday outdoors near a basketball court with his wife and friends. Nearby, one of the attendees was stopped by police. When Joye went to intervene, things got tense. The clip shows that on September 16 around 12:20 a.m., an officer forces Joye back into a fence then reaches into his pockets and takes a stack of money. As reported by the New York Times, Joye has retained an attorney and are bringing attention to the matter.
More from the Times:
Mr. Joye, who was not arrested that night, said he has not gotten his money back; his lawyer, Robert Marinelli, said he has received no explanation of where that money was.
The Brooklyn district attorney, Kenneth P. Thompson, said his office was “aware of the alleged incident and it is being actively and thoroughly investigated.”
Mr. Marinelli said he has submitted pay and bank records to the district attorney showing his client, who works in construction, had earned a few thousand dollars in early September and had withdrawn a couple of thousand dollars, intending to celebrate his birthday with his wife.
“I believe that this officer made an assumption that any money Mr. Joye possessed was obtained illegally and therefore he would not report the theft,” Mr. Marinelli said. “This assumption was wrong. Mr. Joye is a hardworking taxpayer. An incident like this would never occur in a more affluent section of the city.”
In a statement, the NYPD says they were in the region responding to a call in the region regarding a man with the gun. Joye’s sister was also pepper sprayed after she asked an officer for his name and badge number.
Via the New York Post, the NYPD said via a statement that the officer only seized $62 instead of the nearly $1,300 Joye reported stolen. The statement further said that the money was properly accounted for and that Joye failed to pick it up. An Internal Affairs investigation cleared officer William Montemarino of any wrongdoing.
Watch video of the incident below.
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Photo: Robert Marinelli
