Man Arrested for Filming Cops at Utica Ave. Station

A transit police officer allegedly violently arrested a 47-year-old man as he filmed the cops ticketing another man at the Utica Ave. subway station in Crown Heights last week.

Shocking video of the encounter was published by the NY Daily News. Due to the repeated use of foul language in the video, we cannot publish it on our website. However, it can be viewed – at your own discretion – by clicking the link to the Daily News website.

From the NY Daily News:

Shawn Thomas of New Rochelle claims Police Officer Efrain Rojas attacked him, arrested him and then tried to delete the video of Saturday’s interaction at Brooklyn’s Utica Ave. station.

Thomas told photographyisnotacrime.com that Rojas dragged him out of the station, forced him face down on a snowswept sidewalk and slammed his head into the pavement, splitting his lip.

“I was bleeding profusely,” he told the website. Attempts to reach Thomas for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday. “I was having really bad head pains while in jail, so they took me back to the hospital the following morning.”

Thomas was transported to the hospital twice as he awaited his arraignment Sunday, he said, according to the site.

He was released on his own recognizance after being charged with obstructing government administration, resisting arrest, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. He is due back in court April 1.

Court records indicate Rojas repeatedly asked Thomas to step back as the civilian recorded the 5:50 p.m. arrest, then asked him to leave the station, but Thomas refused.

Officer Rojas escorted Thomas out, but the 47-year-old followed him right back into the station, where he refused to be handcuffed, according to court records.

The video shows Officer Rojas walking up and using his personal iPhone to videotape the camera-wielding Thomas as he recorded a peaceful interaction between another police officer and a young man who had been handcuffed.

“Why are you invading my personal space?” Thomas asks before asking Rojas’ for his name and shield number.

“You’re violating my personal space too,” Rojas said.

“Do you pick and choose what part of your patrol guide to read?” Thomas asked.

After a brief back and forth about personal space and patrol guides, Rojas began making threats.

“Maybe I should arrest you,” the cop said.

“Try it and see what happens. Now back the **** up and get out of my personal space,” Thomas screams — one of several times he shouts profanities at the officer.

“That’s three times you cursed at me,” Rojas said. “I haven’t cursed at you once.”

“That’s two,” Thomas corrected him. “Now back the **** up. That’s three.”

“This is my station right here,” Rojas said, ordering Thomas to leave.

When Thomas didn’t, Rojas grabbed him. Thomas’ video cuts out at that point.

Another man recorded Rojas handcuffing Thomas’ as he kneeled on his back outside the station. The witness who recorded Thomas’ arrest tracked him down on Facebook, Thomas claimed.

Rojas allegedly pulled the batteries from Thomas’ camera after grabbing his arm and escorting him out of the station, the 47-year-old told the website.

When Thomas pulled out his Blackberry to continue recording, Rojas got violent, he claimed.

“He then knocked the phone out of my hand and slams me to the ground,” Thomas told the website. “Then he grabbed the back of my head and slammed it into the pavement.”

The video doesn’t show the arrest or the alleged violence.

Rojas allegedly deleted the video, but Thomas was able to recover the deleted footage through a free program called Recuva.

The NYPD’s Transit Bureau Investigations Unit and the Civilian Complaint Review Board are reviewing the video, according to NYPD top spokesman Stephen Davis.

14 Comments

  • Anonymous

    I saw the video of the incident and the cop is 100% right in arresting this nincompoop.He wasn’t arrested for filming he was arrested for being a brainless homey and constantly (6 times) telling the
    PO ‘to get the fxxx out of my space’. He deserved what he ended up getting!

    • Milhouse

      Really? First of all, in what way was he brainless? More importantly, since when is being brainless a crime? And if the cop was in his personal space, why the f— shouldn’t he tell him to get the f— out of it? Since when is that against the law? What was the cop doing in his space in the first place? What gave him the right to deliberately crowd someone who was going about his lawful business filming in a public space?

      This is a clear violation of section 1983, so there is no qualified immunity, and if the cop has any personal assets this guy should sue him and take them away.

    • #acab

      Yes, this cop should be given a medal for thoughtful and totally necessary use of violence! Bravo!

  • TO #1

    EXACTLY.

    This cop hangs out at the intersection of Brooklyn and Lefferts to catch anyone doing anything that will help him finish his ticket book A.K.A. quotas

  • Yossi

    Why are there police checkpoints lately? Is this a police state already? I was waved thru twice but was late to work…

  • The cop was wrong ... but...

    He had a legal right to arrest the man as he was being insubordinate. You don’t curse at a cop and disobey their orders. I’m sorry, but i’m not surprised that the cop arrested him. The man totally crossed the lines

    • Milhouse

      Insubordinate?! Is that some sick joke? Since when are citizens supposed to be subordinate to cops? Since when do we have to obey their orders? Since when is it illegal to swear at them? Where do you think this is, Russia?! Nazi Germany?!

      In a free country policemen are public servants, not public masters. They are not special. They do not have the power to give anyone orders. And one may speak to them exactly as one may speak to anyone else, with as much or as little respect as one thinks they deserve. And any policeman who thinks otherwise is filth, and should be told so to his face.

    • Lubavitcher

      Good job Milhouse. Agree with every word you said. Police are constitutionally vested with very few rights. They are there to serve and protect. Not intimidate and harass. The only exception is when they see a crime take place or probable cause that someone is in commission of a crime. I would call you guys racists for taking the cops side, however I see so many morons who take the cops side over a fellow Lubavitcher Jew, so I guess many of you just have fascism running through your veins that is unconnected with racism.

    • Ok...

      Ok millhouse – so be insubordinate to police and tell them to **** off. You’ll be the one to get arrested. It’s NOT nazi germany. BUT it is America. People need to be respectful of people in hierarchy. Police hold the power to arrest people when they show insubordination. If they tell you to leave a premises that they are working in, if you dont listen then they can arrest you

    • Milhouse

      “OK…”, so what you’re telling me is that all cops are lawless thugs. Is that right? I would have liked to believe that it’s only a few rogues, and most cops know their place and obey the law, but who knows, maybe you’re right, they’re all criminal pieces of filth as you claim.

      People need to be respectful of people in hierarchy.

      Yes, and in the hierarchy of a free country a member of the public is superior to a public servant. In a free country policemen must show respect to their employers, not the other way around. That is the key difference between a free country and a police state.

      Police hold the power to arrest people when they show insubordination.

      They hold the power, but not the legal authority.

      If they tell you to leave a premises that they are working in, if you dont listen then they can arrest you

      Yes, they can arrest you, just as they can steal your wallet, beat you senseless, or shoot you dead, and just as you can do so to them. But they have no more legal right to arrest you for disobeying an illegal order than you do to arrest them for the same thing.

  • Ok...

    I here some of your points. But as a medical professional, who will get my license provoked if i am arrested … i prefer to stay on the cops good side