DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The officers caught on tape beating an unarmed teenager in Crown Heights with a gun over the summer were charged with assault and official misconduct Wednesday afternoon.
Officers David Afanador, 33, and Tyrane Isaac, 36, both nine-year veterans of the 77th Precinct, turned themselves into the Brooklyn District Attorney's office about noon after being indicted the day before.
Afanador was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and official misconduct, according to the indictment.
Isaac was charged with misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault and official misconduct, court papers show.
The two officers were released without bail at their arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday.
The video, which was first reported by DNAinfo New York, shows the officers chasing Kaheem Tribble, 16, to a shuttered storefront at 1311 St. John's Place at 2:20 a.m. on Aug. 29 where they began to beat him. Tribble was shown ducking the first punch and putting his hands up, but Afanador rushed up and slammed him in the face with his gun, breaking his front teeth.
Prior to the hearing, Stephen Worth, the lawyer for Afanador said they were justified in their actions because Tribble was being "non-compliant with the police officers" by fleeing. He said that the suspect was a "physically larger individual" than the officers.
"These officers were performing their job. It's 2 o'clock in the morning," Worth said.
The officers have been suspended for 30 days and stripped of their guns and badges.
Tribble's lawyer Amy Rameau said her client did nothing wrong.
"Kaheem did absolutely nothing to deserve what they did to him," she said. “It’s not a crime to run away if you’re scared. It’s not a crime to run away if you are being chased and you’re scared, that is not a crime. What they did is a crime. They’re the criminals here. This is not about Kaheem. It’s about the officers who victimized him.”
She said that the teen's parents intend to sue the city over the beating.