Video shows NYPD officers punching Brooklyn shelter worker
NEW YORK -- Surveillance video exclusively obtained by CBS News New York Investigates shows NYPD officers repeatedly punching a man working at a Brooklyn homeless shelter last February.
Jason Salters says officers attacked him when he was just trying to follow orders to do his job.
It happened on Feb. 5, when he was working as a shift supervisor for a nonprofit hired by the city's Department of Homeless Services, or DHS, to run the Renaissance Shelter in Crown Heights.
"You wouldn't beat a dog like that"
Salters said NYPD officers showed up in the early morning looking for a domestic violence suspect who had been staying at the shelter.
He says the police didn't have a warrant so, according to an internal DHS report, he called a director of social services for the city, and put her on speaker phone.
"She said, in front of the sergeant and officers, 'No Jason, absolutely not. Do not let them in. They do not have a warrant?' I said 'No, ma'am.' 'Absolutely not, do not let them in,'" Salters said.
He offered to go try to convince the client to come down, but the officers insisted on entering, Salters said. Eventually, one of them got through a door and got closer to the dormitory area, so Salters said he held the door to try to keep the others out.
He said the video shows an officer "basically telling me to step aside."
He went on to describe what happened next.
"'If you don't open this f---ing door, I'm going to tase you,'" Salters said. "And I'm like, 'Whoa, don't tase me. I don't want to be tased for nobody."
While what happened off camera is unclear, the video appears to show the officer opening the door, another rushing in, and the two of them then repeatedly punching him. Two other officers also entered the room when the door was opened, and eventually all four of them surrounded Salters as officers handcuffed him.
The DHS report says the officers "ambushed" Salters, who says he never threatened them, or fought back.
The NYPD and the mayor's office would not agree to an interview, or explain why the officers responded the way they did.
"You wouldn't beat a dog like that," Salters said. "I worried that my mother was going to have to bury her son."
The DHS report said, "while on speaker phone with Mr. Salters and NYPD," the social services director had "reiterated that according to DHS policy, the NYPD is not permitted to search the facility" for a client "if they are not in active pursuit," like a foot chase.
But CBS News New York Investigates reviewed other DHS documents that state officers could enter in some circumstances with a document called an investigative card, or "I-Card." The DHS report on the incident shows the officers presented an I-Card that morning, but Salters said he'd never heard of that, which is why he called that social services director.
"I think the whole system needs to be revamped in training. When to call emergency services, when not to call emergency services, when to allow them. It should be clear cut," Salters said.
"I just wish that day wouldn't have happened"
The video of his being arrested in front of his frightened colleagues is difficult for Salters to watch, especially the moment when officers appear to pummel him as he drops to the ground.
"I just wish that day wouldn't have happened. I wish I would've called out sick that day," Salters said.
Two former law enforcement officers said that, regardless of whether the officers should have been allowed in, the video raises serious questions.
"The punches seemed unreasonable. Again, we need context, full context, but just judging from what we saw, my question is, was it reasonable?" former FBI Agent M. Quentin Williams said.
"Unless there was some other way he (Salters) was using force that's not displayed on the video, I think it's worthy of an investigation to see if the use of force was justified," John Jay College of Criminal Justice lecturer Brian Higgins said.
Salters said he was taken to a hospital and eventually to the NYPD's central booking, where police told him he was being charged with obstruction and resisting arrest. However, the day after he was beaten, Salters said he was suddenly released with no charges.
He says he went through a great deal of pain, and trauma.
"I don't go outside anymore"
"My anxiety level is on a thousand. I also have some injuries to arms and legs and back but there's -- my biggest problem -- is peace of mind. I don't go outside anymore. A uniform itself brings me back," Salters said.
The city's Civilian Complaint Review Board says it is investigating what happened to Salters.
The DHS report says, after the officers handcuffed Salters, they searched the shelter and did not find the suspect.
In response to a lawsuit filed by Salters, the city's lawyers wrote that the officers' actions were "justified as being reasonably necessary," within the scope of their employment but the city didn't provide any specifics on what made the officers react that way.
Spokespersons for the NYPD, the Department of Homeless Services, and the Department of Social Services say they will not comment on pending litigation.
