......In an act of extreme depraved indifference, and savagery an NYPD officer was caught on a disturbing video tackling a clearly pregnant woman and riding her to the ground like a wild animal early Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.
The recording shows Sandra Amezquita, who is a diminutive 5-foot four inches tall and five months pregnant, being grabbed by the arm and thrown to the pavement with the cop on her back in Sunset Park at around 2:15 a.m.
The baby’s father, Ronel Lemos, said he watched in horror as his wife hit the ground belly-first.
“The first thing I thought was they killed my baby and they’re going to kill my wife,” Lemos, 50, told the local media on Tuesday.
Moments later, another unidentified woman was violently flung to the ground on Fifth Ave. and 41st St.
“You would think the police would respect a woman that is pregnant,” Amezquita, 43, said through an interpreter in an exclusive interview.
“I was afraid something happened to my baby. I am still afraid that something is wrong,” she said, referring to a persistent abdominal pain that she's had since the assault.
Amezquita suffered vaginal bleeding after the incident, and her belly and arm still bear bruises.
She was given a summons for disorderly conduct and her husband was arrested for assaulting a police officer, cops said.
The officer is the second cop from the 72nd Precinct in a week to be under investigation by the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau after getting caught on video.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton suspend a cop last week after being caught on camera kicking a street vendor on Fifth Ave. in Sunset Park as he was being subdued by fellow officers.
Sanford Rubenstein, a civil rights lawyer retained by Amezquita and Lemos, said both videos depicting alleged police brutality were recorded by the same bystander.
“It is incidents like this that account for police-community relations being at an all-time low in New York City,” Rubenstein said.
The cops were arresting the couple’s 17-year-old son, Jhohan Lemos, for possession of a knife clipped to his belt, when the cops were attacked.
The parents said they were responding to cries from their son being beaten when they were set upon by the cops.
Jhohan’s face appears battered and his right eye swollen shut in photos taken after his arrest.
Ronel Lemos was charged with striking Officer Elvis Merizalde in the back and shoulder while he was arresting Jhohan, according to the criminal complaint.
Amezquita, the mother of four children, emigrated from Colombia and recently stopped working.
The couple has already selected a name for the unborn baby boy — Kevin.
While getting into a physical altercation with the notoriously violent NYPD during an arrest while being 5 months pregnant is probably not one of the greatest idea's in the world, there is no reason why Sandra Amezquita should have been brutalized.
This is just another example of the blatant disrespect, and disregard that these police officer's have for the very people that they have sworn to protect.
PR
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