BROOKLYN — An NYPD officer was suspended without pay after posting a photo of a handcuffed family to Snapchat, police said.
Police confirmed the picture was accompanied by the caption, "Merry Christmas Its NYPD."
The incident was first reported by ABC 7.
Officers with a warrant raided the family's Brownsville home at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22 and placed everyone in the apartment in handcuffs during the search, police confirmed.
Police said the warrant authorized the officers to search the apartment on Dumont Avenue, the Associated Press reported. The officers remained there for about three hours, reports said.
The NYPD did not provide information on why the apartment was being investigated, other than to say they were looking for someone at that address. The person ultimately was not found there, the NYPD said.
The suspended officer works with the 73rd Precinct, the NYPD confirmed, though police did not name him.
A member of the Brownsville family told ABC 7 that she and her family thought the officer was texting during the raid.
"The whole three hours we were sitting here, he was the one standing there. We saw him on his phone, but we didn't think an officer would do that," Kimberly Santiago told ABC 7.
The officer posted a second Snapchat of the family with the caption, "Warrant sweeps Its still a party smh," the NYPD confirmed.
Both Snapchats appeared in the public "New York story" feed on Snapchat, ABC 7 reported.
Santiago told ABC 7 that the worst part of the raid were the Snapchats.
"The things that he wrote, it's like, this [is] what you all do?" Santiago told ABC 7. "If he did that to [us], picture how many other families he's done that to. And he was the only one standing there watching us."
The incident is under internal review, according to an NYPD spokeswoman, including by the Internal Affairs Bureau.
