NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks out about "deeply disturbing, unacceptable" Brooklyn arrest

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he spoke with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch after seeing the video of violent, wrongful arrest in Brooklyn that prompted outrage. 

The video shows Timothy Brown's arrest last week in Brooklyn, in which the arresting officers can be seen repeatedly punching him, and shoving him to the ground. The NYPD said they mistakenly thought Brown was a drug dealer's associate, 

Since then, the NYPD's Narcotics Unit has been placed under a 90 day review, and two detectives and a sergeant have been placed on modified duty. 

"The entire op team that was part of that operation has been disbanded. That is, the captain, several additional members of the team having been reassigned as part of the accountability measures," Mamdani said. 

Mamdani said Tuesday what happened in the video was "deeply disturbing and unacceptable," and showed "a number of practices that are troubling," pointing to the absence of body worn cameras on the part of the arresting officers. 

"I spoke with my police commissioner and decided the NYPD needed to take immediate and decisive steps to ensure accountability and to address the serious concerns that were raised," Mamdani said. "That includes a 90-day top to bottom review of the narcotics section, stronger oversight through audits, and a comprehensive review of training of equipment of operational practices. And that includes stricter oversight of body worn camera requirements during arrests."

Mamdani said "a number of constituents in the neighborhood" said "it wasn't simply this incident that troubled them, but that this incident was part of a larger number of concerns that had been shared around these operations." 

Mamdani said he and Tisch "are very much aligned on the necessity of a broader review, as opposed to just an incident-based review."

"So we're talking about a 90-day review that is going to be comprehensive, that is focused on the narcotics unit, and that looks at these a variety of policies big and small that have been driving much of that work over these last few weeks and months," Mamdani said. 

The mayor's remarks come a day after community activists met with Tisch at 1 Police Plaza to demand change and accountability. During that meeting, Tisch discussed many of the changes that Mamdani reiterated Tuesday.