Another video of NYPD officers being doused with water by a crowd of people laughing and cheering has surfaced. This is the third such video make headlines in the past few days. This one apparently was in the Bronx, while the first two were in Brooklyn and Harlem.
What appears to be over a dozen young people walk out onto a busy street as the officers are sipping beverages on the sidewalk at the corner. Several men, it appears, walk up with buckets of water and large water guns.
According to the New York Post, “at least four buckets of water are unloaded on the (two female) cops, who retreat a few feet down the block …”
The paper also reported that, “At least one of the officers is seen shaking herself off as the pair turn back toward the camera, but they don’t appear to engage or even chastise the cheering group.”
There also doesn’t appear to be any effort to call for assistance or an attempt to make an arrest for the assault.
In none of the three reported cases captured on video by cellphone cameras of bystanders does it appear as though the officers, significantly outnumbered, attempt to make an arrest. However, several men were allegedly arrested for assault and criminal mischief for the water attacks over the weekend.
According to the Post one police source advised, “This looks like it’s becoming a disgusting trend. You’re going to see this happening all over the city now, everyone trying for one-upmanship.”
“It’s going to keep happening until the cops start acting like cops,” said the source.
Also contained in the article was a reference to an NYPD Chief, Terence Monahan, who “implored cops not to take the dousings lying down by walking away from the encounters.”
So begs the question: Why no response from the officers? Are they afraid of the crowd because of the shear numbers or are they afraid of the repercussions if the subjects who committed the assaults resist and force need be used?
Either way, the trend is troubling on both sides of the equation.
What would you do?
And: How do you know it’s just water in the buckets and the guns? The media says, “It’s just water.” But what if it’s bleach? Or worse?
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