In what appears to be one of the most horrifying cases of police brutality in recent memory, a New York City teenager nearly died this past weekend after a New York Police Department officer smashed him through the window of a store while handcuffed.
On Saturday night, 14-year-old Javier Payne was leaving the Hookah Spot on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx with another boy when two NYPD officers stopped them and began questioning them about an altercation with a man on the street. At one point, Javier was placed under arrest and handcuffed. Out of nowhere, one of the officers smashed Javier’s face through the window. He not only suffered severe cuts to his face, but glass shards sliced open his chest and punctured one of his lungs. Precious minutes were wasted when officers called in Javier’s injury with a protocol normally used for drunks rather than a pediatric emergency. Incredibly, paramedics had to beg officers to let them remove the handcuffs so they could tend to Javier’s wounds. The wound to Javier’s chest was so severe that one of the paramedics had to hold it closed in the ambulance. Shop owner Nageib Aldaylam told police that the boys did nothing wrong when they popped into his store. However, even if they had done anything wrong, the officers’ actions were completely inexcusable.
Javier’s mother, Cherita, was finally able to see her son after hours of surgery at Jacobi Medical Center. He’s recovering well, but still has pieces of glass in his lung. Two investigators from NYPD Internal Affairs interviewed her son while she was there and told her that they have opened an investigation. Javier was charged with resisting arrest, obstructing government administration, and assault — charges that, according to Think Progress, are commonly used to deflect accusations of police brutality. As a result, for now Cherita has to get a signed letter from police in order to visit her son. Hopefully she won’t have to do that for too much longer, though. Based on the available evidence, there isn’t a prosecutor in this country who could bring charges against Javier in this case and keep his job. If anyone needs to be prosecuted for this, it’s the officers.
Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
Edited by D.H.
