NBC New York: Man Punched by Cop After Resisting Arrest

George’s friend Jun Ice was there and hit record on his phone when he noticed the situation was escalating.

The police officer, who has not been named, lands a couple of juicy rights to George’s face, while his friend yells in outrage.

The NYPD has since confirmed that before Jun Ice began recording the street stop, officers found a knife on George.

The video circulating on Facebook, which more than 1 million views by the next day, shows the arrest near 131st Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem. “They didn’t tell him why he got stopped in the first place, they ask for his ID, he gave it to them.. ya watch the rest of it and let me know if the stop or arrest was justify”. The NYPD said later police saw that George had a knife, prompting the stop. The two square off, and more police arrive and get George on the ground. At one point George pushes the officer’s hands away from him and the officer connects to George’s head with a right hook. Later in the video a bystander is incredulous that George was detained “over a penknife”.

Another police source said the footage shows Francisco was not the aggressor and that he remained in a “defensive stance” while under attack from suspect Saykou George, 30.

When the officer tells George he is under arrest, he says: “No y’all ain’t arresting me for nothing”. “You have to defend yourself if you know you’re not under arrest”.

According to the New York Post, he said: “My preliminary review, I saw nothing inappropriate with the officers” behavior. “He didn’t surrender. He now has additional charges against him. We’ll process it through the courts”.

Commissioner William Bratton said the officers’ actions are currently not in question.

Watching the video, Gomez said it appears officers used minimum force to avoid close contact and to stop George from leaving.

A statement from the Patrolmen Benevolent Association said the incident was “a text book example of an individual who was spotted with a weapon resisting arrest, attempting to walk away and the two police officers involved doing exactly what they must do to take the man into custody”.