An NYPD officer faces up to one year in jail after being convicted of misdemeanor assault in connection to a forceful arrest that was captured on cellphone video.
On Friday, Joel Edouard, 38, was found guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom of third-degree assault based on his actions during an arrest on July 23, 2014, District Attorney Ken Thompson announced.
RELATED:NYPD probes cops in beating of black man accused of $3 pizza slice theft “This police officer, in broad daylight and in front of a crowd of people, stomped on the head of a suspect while he lay on the ground, subdued and surrounded by other officers,” Thompson stated. “That’swhy he was indicted, put on trial and convicted. His conduct was simply outrageous.” At the time of the 2014 incident, Edouard and his partner saw Jahmi-El Cuffee, 32, on the sidewalk drinking and possessing what appeared to be marijuan around Malcolm X Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to the DA. Cuffee allegedly resisted arrest, setting off the altercation with officers that was captured on video showing Edouard stomping Cuffee’s head as he was on the ground.
Edouard“let down his fellow officers by losing his composure in an admittedly difficult decision,” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus was quoted by theNew York Daily News.
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Cuffee claimed to suffer injuries from the arrest,ABC7reported, adding that all charges against him were eventually dismissed.
