Visiting a public assistance center as a single mom with a small child can be a stressful experience. This was apparently the case for Jazmine Headley, 23, and her 17-month-old son, Damone Buckman III. According to the New York Times, Headley had been at the Brooklyn benefits center because her benefits had lapsed and she needed to handle the situation. She had reportedly been at the office with her son standing for four hours, so she sat on the floor to rest. That is when a security guard at the center told her to move or leave the building.
Tired from her ordeal, Headley refused to move, so the security guard initiated physical contact before calling the police, a law enforcement source told the New York Post. When the police arrived, the situation quickly escalated and other people in the office pulled out cell phones to record the unfolding drama. In the footage, at least four cops violently assault Headley and forcibly rip her son from her arms, according to witnesses. Headley is heard screaming, “You’re hurting my son” as onlookers scream in protest at the way the cops were roughing up the single mom. One unidentified officer pulled his stun gun but did not discharge the weapon.
Headley was placed under arrest and charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and acting in a manner injurious to a child. She is still at Riker’s Island Jail because of a prior arrest warrant from New Jersey for failure to appear on a credit-card fraud charge in July 2017. A judge also issued an order of protection barring Headley from seeing her son, because of the charges.
But now city officials have initiated an internal investigation over the incident. Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the said the video was “very disturbing” and New York Mayor de Blasio said he had “questions about how this was handled.”
and have called the incident “disturbing”. The video was uploaded to Facebook and can be seen below:
https://www.facebook.com/nyashia.ferguson/videos/2165023130216850/
