An emotionally disturbing video has been making the rounds on social media, particularly Facebook, of several police officers from the NYPD violently taking away a woman’s 18-month-old son.
An onlooker recorded and posted a video of the police officers already engaging with 24-year-old mother, Jazmine Headley, scrambling to hold onto her son.
Headley can be heard screaming:
“They’re hurting my son! They’re hurting my son!”
The situation quickly intensified not only as the two officers moved around Headley, trying to pin her down, but then as one of the officers aggressively grabbed onto the boy’s arm and torso, pulling on him like they were in a terrible game of tug-of-war.
Some of the content may be disturbing to some, but you can watch the video here:
The situation continued to intensify, and the video content grows audibly louder, as more police officers circled around the woman, and as onlookers closed in.
It was unclear if the onlookers were trying to help Headley, or if they were simply observing from close-quarters, but one of the officers took out their stun gun and began pointing it at the nearby crowd.
At one point, it appears that the officer even pointed the stun gun at Headley’s forehead, but it’s somewhat unclear if the officer was actively pointing it at her, or if it was the perceived angle of the camera.
By the end of the video, Headley was escorted out of the room, and her son was nowhere in sight.
Headley had been waiting at the Brooklyn District benefits office, and was sitting on the floor with her son. A security guard was upset about the two of them sitting there, and when Headley refused to move, the resulting altercation took place.
Headley at the time was arrested and placed in jail for four days. Her resulting Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez assisted in dropping all charges, which consisted of obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and endangering the welfare of a child.
The two officers were suspended at that time for 30 days without pay, but it was months before anything more came of resolving the situation.
The video was posted in December 2018, and her attorney was appalled at its contents and what Headley and her son had experienced and believed it could have been handled differently.
In February 2019, Headley appeared in court to testify about the events that had occurred at the benefits office. At the time, the city council offered her a public apology and also moved to pass legislation to improve public conditions at all benefits offices, including full information transparency and customer care.
The following August, Headley sued the city on the grounds that her child had sustained physical, mental, and other additional injuries. Headley also felt defamed, stating that her name would always be associated with this event.
