NYC Cop David London Placed on Desk Duty After Clubbing Handcuffed Army Vet Walter Harvin

Yet another New York City cop has been stripped of his gun and placed on modified desk duty. Officer David London, 43, was stripped of his gun and badge Monday and placed on desk duty as the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau investigated the July 18 incident. According to the NY Daily News, London was caught on tape beating a handcuffed Army vet paused to take a phone call and then went right back to smashing the man with his baton.

London and his partner stopped Harvin, 28, as he tried to enter the DeHostos Apartment on W. 93rd St., where Harvin’s mother lives, about 1:15 a.m. “I told him don’t close it because I don’t have the keys,” said Harvin, a vet who was discharged in 2004 for post traumatic stress disorder. “As I walked into the elevator he grabbed my arm. That’s when I pushed him,” Harvin said. “I was on the floor and he kept beating me with the stick. He sprayed me with Mace. While I was on the floor, he handcuffed me. I don’t remember too much about it.”

Security video from the building showed London beating Harvin after he was cuffed and on the ground, a source said. Why did he beat the man after he was handcuffed and on the ground? That makes no sense.

According to media reports, as London and his partner propped the handcuffed war vet up against a wall, London’s cell phone rang, sources said. Video showed London talking on the phone for 90 seconds before he resumed beating Harvin, sources said. London told colleagues Harvin went berserk when he was asked to show identification or proof he was entitled to be in the building.

Harvin started punching and kicking the cops, screaming, “You can’t take me!” court papers say. Harvin said he didn’t remember much of what happened once the beating started. He was charged with assault and resisting arrest and was released pending a hearing.

This is a very troubling trend that is emerging in New York City and comes on the heels of incidents involving rookie cop Patrick Pogan bodychecking a cyclist and Maurice Harrington videotaped beating another man. The Police Commissioner had better put his boys in check before lawsuits start flying if it is found that these cops acted with excessive force.

Filed under: David London, Maurice Harrington, Patrick Pogan, Walter Harvin

NY Cop Maurice Harrington Placed on Modified Desk Duty After Beating Incident of Michael Cephus Disclosed

It seems that the New York Police Department has been in the news a lot lately. Well, the latest involves the beating of Michael Cephus. The NYPD has temporarily taken away the badge and gun of the baton-wielding officer, Maurice Harrington and placed him on desk duty as investigators review his repeated strikes July 4th against Cephus who was allegedly resisting arrest.

A passerby had filmed part of the confrontation between Cephus of Brooklyn and officers on Delancey Street about 8:25 p.m. Police maintain that Cephus had been drinking, had swung at police officers with an umbrella, hit two cops with his fists and had refused to be handcuffed. His attorney counters that Cephus was not intoxicated, did not strike the officers and should not have been arrested.”I would never strike an officer,” said Cephus, a former truck driver. “Why should I get beat up? Why should anybody get beat up?

“The officer has been modified until further notice,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. Union Leader Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association defended Harrington, saying he used the proper amount of force to subdue a suspect who was clearly resisting arrest and at one point trying to grab an officer’s baton.
“Partial video never tells the whole story,” said Lynch. “That person was not only not complying but gripping in a death grip that baton. That’s a danger to the police officer.”

Background?

According to WNBC, Harrington, 31, a four-year veteran assigned to the 52nd Precinct in the Bronx, had been working a special Fourth of July police detail in Lower Manhattan when the confrontation with Cephus happened. Cephus had been trying to reach a park along the East River to watch the fireworks and police had accused him of illegally trying to carry liquor inside. His lawyer, Steven Orlow, denied that his client was carrying liquor that evening, noting that he was not subsequently arrested on that charge. Police did charge Cephus with assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon (the umbrella), menacing and resisting arrest.

Final thoughts…

I am not accusing the cops of anything, just wondering out loud if they have forgotten that we live in the You Tube age where a lot of things show up in the Internet and beyond….

Filed under: Maurice Harrington, Michael Cephus, NYPD, Patrick Pogan