New York police beat Black man for not practicing social distancing (video)

Over the weekend, a New York City police officer came under fire for using force to break up a gathering in the mostly Black and Latino, Brownsville community of Brooklyn, New York. During the incident, which was caught on a cell phone camera, police attempted to break up the gathering before things became violent.

In the video, a plainclothes cop — whose name has yet to be revealed — slapped a man, Donni Wright, 33, and brandished a stun gun. The cop, who was not wearing a mask, can be seen pointing a stun gun at Wright. Several officers then threw Wright to the ground and began punching him before dragging him off of the street and placing his arms in handcuffs.

Wright, 33, faces charges of assault on a police officer, menacing, resisting arrest and other crimes.

The video was posted by activist Shaun King and eventually went viral. “All of this brutality is being done to Black people, in Black spaces in the name of ‘enforcing social distancing,'” King wrote on his Instagram page.

King also posted an image of a group of White people at the Christop her St. Pier in New York. Although they were not practicing social distancing, they were not harmed by authorities. In fact, a police officer handed one group of people face masks as they sat inches apart from each other.

View the video and image below.