A NYPD officer caught on camera placed a suspect in an illegal chokehold on Sunday without charge several hours later, authorities said.
“After a quick investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, a police officer involved in the disturbing chokehold incident in Queens has been suspended without charge,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement late Sunday.
“While the full investigation is still ongoing, there is no question in my mind that immediate action is needed,” Shea added.
“We are committed to transparency as this process continues.”
Shea did not mention the name of the suspended officer in her statement.
Videos circulating on social media earlier on Sunday showed four officers pressing a man in a D’Angelo Russell Nets jersey to the ground on the sidewalk in Far Rockaway.
The 29-second clip shows one policeman with an arm around the man’s neck, as three other officers try to handcuff him.
“You stop choking him, friend!” someone shouted outside the screen, as the man on the ground went limp.
But the policeman only let go of the man’s neck after one of his fellow officers patted his back, the tape showed.
At least a dozen people protested the arrest in front of the 100th Precinct on Sunday afternoon, carrying signs of the “Black Lives Matter”, video posted on Twitter shows.
The New York City Council earlier this month passed a law that made it a criminal offense for police to use chokeholds.
