COVID-19 POLICING
• 93% of COVID-19 arrests
were people of color
• 36 out of 39 Brooklyn
arrests were minorities
• DA investigating racial
discrepancy in enforcement
Demonstrators gathered at 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan to protest unequal enforcement of social distancing policies.
‘I THOUGHT I WAS
Man speaks out about violent social
INSIDE
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Police Blotter ..........................8
Opinion .................................... 12
Letters ..................................... 13
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COURIER L 2 IFE, MAY 15-21, 2020
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
On the warm evening of
April 29, Adegoke Atunbi
parked his car on an East New
York street corner as he went
into a nearby bodega to buy
a drink. That’s when he noticed
a crowd beginning to
form around a group of police
offi cers who were arresting a
young man near Sutter Avenue
and Hemlock Street.
“I thought, ‘Let me just
pull out my camera and watch
what’s going on,’” said 31-yearold
Atunbi.
As swarms of other onlookers
gathered and several more
offi cers arrived on the scene,
the mood became decidedly
more restless for a tense few
moments — and then, after yelling
for the crowds to back off, a
plain-clothed offi cer punched
one of the bystanders in the
face.
Atunbi, having failed to
document the moments immediately
preceding that violent
escalation, tried to shift
his camera to catch the chaotic
scene unfolding next to him,
but other offi cers began to push
him back — seemingly becoming
agitated with him capturing
the events on video.
“I can video and document
as a citizen, I’m not impeding
the arrest,” said Atunbi.
Moments later, a cop in a
blue long sleeve shirt forcefully
shoved Atunbi, jerking his
camera lens off the action — before,
Atunbi claims, the cop hit
him in the face, shoved him to
the ground, and brought him in
handcuffs to the 75th Precinct
station house.
“I felt a kick on my head, a
kick on my back. The handcuffs
on my veins were really tight,
I kept begging them to loosen
them a little bit,” said the father
of-two. “I was on the fl oor, I
thought I was going to die.”
The incident was Atunbi’s
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