A video has recorded a violent altercation erupting between a man on a New York City subway and police officers, who apparently arrested him for the crime of nodding off while commuting home for work.
The incident occurs at the 57th street station stop in Manhattan in a mostly-empty carriage.
The video posted to YouTube on Tuesday does not show what sparked the police confrontation, though from the man’s reaction and those who viewed and filmed the scene, he was confronted by police for sleeping on the train.
"For what? I didn’t do s***! I’m sleeping,” he cries out during the arrest, before repeating that he was going home. The arresting officers, while speaking to him throughout the incident, are mostly inaudible.
As the police struggle to gain control of the man’s arms, he repeatedly screams “for what?” as the officers tell him to “relax.”
“Ain’t no relax, ain’t no relax,” he replied. “Yo, somebody record this, record all of this” he yells out, though the camera has long since been rolling.
He manages to sit down, at which point he can be heard saying I’m coming home from work. The officers, who say he’s under arrest, get him back on his feet, at which point the struggle to subdue him heats up.
Backup eventually arrives, and as his efforts to resist intensify, a female officer appears to start hitting him over the back with a baton. Despite his determined efforts to keep from being handcuffed, he never strikes out at the officers.
“Record all of this please! I’m coming home from work, and they’re f***ing with me because I’m sleeping, and bums gotta sleep on the train.”
After more officers arrive, an officer grabs him in a clinch and manages to pull him to the ground.
The woman filming starts asking for the officers badge number, and when one of them appears to swat her recording device way, she yells “don’t put your fucking hands on me!” as she reads out badge numbers "28230″ and "30408.″
The man then says "We gonna eat," a slang phrase for making money, suggesting that he will sue the NYPD, probably for false arrest and brutality.
As the man is dragged off the train, the woman filming the incident yells out: “I got all ya’ll, and I got your f***ing badge numbers!”
Another passenger passes her, saying in disbelief, “that’s f***ed up.”
De Blasio's NYC: NYPD cops beat black man for falling asleep on Subway on way home from work https://t.co/mn6YyXgY7L via @AGAINSTBRATTON
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) July 3, 2014
According to sections 1050.7 (10) and (5) of the Mass Transit Authority’s (MTA) Rules of Conduct, sleeping or dozing on trains is prohibited only “if it is hazardous or interfering with fellow passengers.” It is, however, forbidden to lie down or take up more than one seat, though it is unclear from the video footage if the man was sleeping in an upright position.
Snoring, incidentally, is not illegal. While various MTA infractions can incur arrest or fines of up to $1000, it is usually left to the officer to determine what course of action to take.