BROOKLYN — A police officer was indicted for knocking a man to the ground and dragging him across a sidewalk after he refused to pick up a cup he had dropped in Coney Island, prosecutors said.
The run-in occurred on July 8, just after midnight, when Officer O’Keefe Thompson, 30, approached Raymond Crespo, 23, while on duty near at the intersection of Mermaid Avenue and West 32nd Street in Coney Island and ordered him to pick up a plastic cup that his friend had knocked from his hand, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.
When Crespo refused, Thompson threw him against the doorway of a bodega nearby, knocked him to the ground and then dragged him across the sidewalk, prosecutors said.
“Don’t you know that I’m from the Ville,” the officer said, referring to Brownsville, according to prosecutors.
Crespo went home and fell asleep, but later called 911 and was taken to the hospital to be treated for symptoms of a concussion and swelling and bruising on his face, authorities said.
The next day, Crespo filed a complaint with the NYPD, leading Thompson to track the man down in his neighborhood several hours later at 2:30 a.m., when the officer was ending his shift, prosecutors said.
"Why are you sh---ing on my name?" said Thompson, who was dressed in plain clothes and lifted up his shirt up to reveal a gun tucked in his waist, according to prosecutors. "Do you know what I’m going to do to you?”
Eventually a group of bystanders pushed Thompson away from Crespo, authorities said.
Both incidents were captured by security cameras, prosecutors said Monday, following Thompson's indictment in Brooklyn Supreme Court on charges of intimidating a witness, third-degree assault and official misconduct.
Thompson, who had been with the NYPD for three years, was suspended without pay, according to the police department. He faces up to four years behind bars if convicted.
"Such conduct is not only unacceptable, it undermines public trust in our justice system and will not be tolerated in Brooklyn,” Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
Thompson was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court on Nov. 29.
No information about his attorney was available immediately.
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association police union did not return a request for comment.