Tag Archives: New York Police Department

Featured, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US

NYPD Cop Caught on Video Bullying Uber Driver in Swear-Laden Road Rage Incident

Video 192 Comments

On Monday, Uber passenger Sanjay Seth posted a YouTube video, seen above, which appears to show a New York Police Department officer arbitrarily pulling over and berating an Uber driver, who happens to be a recent immigrant to the United States. The officer was reportedly angry at the Uber driver for a hand gesture he made in an effort to get the officer, who seemed to be needlessly blocking traffic while parking on the side of the road without using a blinker, to pull aside and let him pass.

New York Daily News notes that Seth wrote on Facebook, “Our Uber driver, Humayun, was abused by a police officer today in New York… The unending rage, door slamming, throwing items into the car, threatening arrest without cause was bad enough — but the officer’s remarks at the end really took it to another level.”

Near the end of the video, the officer can be heard saying, “I don’t know where you’re coming from, where you think you’re appropriate in doing that; that’s not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?” When Humayun indicated that he had been in the US for two years, the officer continued, “Two years? I got news for you, and use this lesson — remember that in the future. Don’t ever do that again. The only reason you’re not in handcuffs going to jail and getting summonses in the precinct is because I have things to do. That’s the only reason that’s not happening, because this is not important enough to me. You’re not important enough.”

The officer can be heard swearing at Humayun throughout the video, despite the fact that the Uber driver apologized repeatedly and said very little throughout the encounter. Though the officer did not identify himself, Sanjay Seth wrote down his license plate number and noted that the officer’s patrol route appeared to belong to NYPD’s 6th Precinct.

An official with the New York Police Department issued a statement on the incident to New York Daily News, which said, “We are aware of the incident and video and it is under review with the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.”

Uber representative Matt Wing commented on the incident as well and said, “We are disheartened by the officer’s behavior, and we appreciate the NYPD investigating the incident.”

Featured, Police State, Politics, US

NJ Muslims Seek Reversal in Case that Allowed NYPD Mass Surveillance

1 Comment

On Tuesday, a group of New Jersey Muslims went before the Federal Court of appeals, in hopes of reversing a ruling in the district court from February 2014, which justified the New York Police Department’s massive surveillance program that targeted Muslims as potential terrorists, solely because of their religion.

The Guardian reported that the case has 11 plaintiffs, including “an Iraq war veteran, university students, a coalition of mosques, and the head of a religious school for girls.”

According to the Associated Press, the three-judge panel “questioned whether police had any specific leads to justify the surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups in New Jersey following 9/11.”

After the decision was made to dismiss the Civil Rights lawsuit in February 2014, Judge William Martini claimed that the “motive of the surveillance program was not solely to discriminate against Muslims, but rather to find Muslim terrorists hiding among ordinary, law-abiding Muslims.”

According to the Huffington Post, Muslims such as Imam Abdul Muhammad said attendance at his Newark, New Jersey, mosque “dropped by half,” and Farhaj Hassan said he “feared for his position in the Army Reserve,” because of the massive surveillance program.

However, in Judge Martini’s 2014 ruling, he claimed that any damages done by the surveillance program only occurred after the Associated Press revealed that it was being conducted in 2012.

The Guardian reported that starting in 2002, the NYPD dispatched “plainclothes officers or ‘rakers’ to Muslim neighborhoods in New Jersey, monitoring bookstores, bars, nightclubs and cafes” to compile surveillance papers that catalogued “religiously oriented facts.”

According to the Associated Press, the three U.S. Circuit Judges received the case on Tuesday, were critical of the program, asking a lawyer for New York City questions such as, “You’ve got to admit there are a lot of people in this country that became prejudiced against Muslims after 9/11,” and “Whether that includes the people who have instituted the surveillance practice in New York City – how can we know at this point?”

The Huffington Post reported that following the hearing, “plaintiffs and their lawyers expressed optimism that the appeals judges will overturn Martini’s ruling.”

“We definitely put a good foot forward,” said Farhaj Hassan, the lead plaintiff in the case. “Today was a very, very good day for America.“