VIDEO: Man Sucker Punches, Wrestles NYPD Officer to Ground

Katherine Rodriguez

A man was caught on camera sucker-punching and wrestling a New York City Police (NYPD) officer to the ground in Brooklyn on Thursday, according to a police officer’s body camera footage.

The video showed Steven Haynes, 40, allegedly punching the uniformed cop in the face outside a Bank of America on Livingston Street and Court Street in downtown Brooklyn Thursday, the New York Post reported.

Haynes, who police claim had been blocking pedestrians by sitting on the sidewalk and drinking in a public space, briefly brawled with the officer before pounding him to the pavement in an attack that sent a trash can barreling into the street, dashcam footage showed.

Within seconds, the officer’s partner calls for backup while yelling at Haynes to stop.

“Get off of him, get off of him!” the officer says as she hovers over the suspect, grabbing the man’s back and brandishing a baton. “All right, sir. Stop, stop, stop, stop!”

Haynes and the officer continue their struggle on the ground while the other officer grabs Haynes’s jacket in the hopes he would back off.

More police officers arrive a minute later to break up the brawl and take Haynes into custody.

Haynes was arrested on multiple charges, including assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration, and alcoholic beverage violation, officials said.

Haynes was released without bail on Friday at his arraignment hearing, which prompted fury from the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association and other police officer union groups.

“Another ATTACK on NYPD Cops! Was this officer working alone?” the SBA NYPD tweeted. ‘Who was saying “Mr. Get off of him?’ All street cops BE CAREFUL, the city is falling and YOU are the first target.”

“The perps know they can sucker punch a cop and escape with no consequences” the New York City PBA tweeted. “And cops know that City Hall will not back them up. The situation is getting more dangerous by the day.”

After the video was released, some have criticized the assaulted officer’s partner for not using enough force to stop the attack.

“We have to change the culture, the environment in this city,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “When you attack law enforcement in a manner like that, it is saying you are attacking the prerequisite of our prosperity, and that’s public safety.”

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