Protests have erupted in Schenectady, New York after a police officer knelt on the neck of a Guyanese man who was being questioned in connection with an act of vandalism.
A now viral nine-minute video shows Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, 31, being detained by the unidentified officer while his mother screams in the background and his father Jaindra demands that he be released.
The incident occurred on Monday morning less than a month after Gover-nor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Gary McCarthy each signed executive orders explicitly banning the use of knee-to-neck and choke holds by the city’s police department. The orders were a direct response to countrywide protests after American George Floyd was killed by a similar knee hold.
The video begins with the younger Gaindarpersaud on the ground screaming in pain while the officer kneels alternatingly on his neck and head.
“Ow me head. Ow me head,” he screams as his father who is taping the encounter tries to get the officer to release him.
“Tek off you foot from his head…tek off you foot from his head…how you meet in me backyard. This is my property…show me what he did,” Jaindra screams as the officer tells him to “back up!”
A female, later identified as Yugeshwar’s mother, sobs hysterically and begs the officer.
“Ow please! Please! What did he do? Oh God please” she wails.
About one minute into the video the officer deals several cuffs to the torso of the writhing Yogeshwar while his father again screams “don’t hit him!”
“Put you hand behind your back! Put you hand behind your [expletive] back,” the officer directs between blows.
After two minutes several other officers arrive and assist in detaining Yogeshwar who is taken into custody. He was charged with criminal mischief and resisting arrest.
Local reporting from the Daily Gazette explains that the officer was responding to a report that a neighbour’s tyres had been slashed as part of an ongoing dispute.
The police report stated that they were called out to the area of 332 Brandy-wine Avenue around 9:38PM, after a neighbour called them to investigate their car tires that were slashed. According to the press release, the neighbour told officers he had video surveillance to prove it.
Police say the officer, located a male suspect allegedly shown in the surveillance video for slashing the tires.
When the officer went to detain the man for further questioning, police say he took off on foot into the backyard of his home. They added that during the foot chase, the officer lost his radio and asked someone to call 911.
Speaking at a protest in front of the Schenectady Police Department several hours later, Yugeshwar admitted that he was approached by the officer who accused him of committing the act.
“I said do you have evidence…Do you have proof or is someone just telling you that? I said you know what…when you have evidence and the video you say you have, bring that video, show it to me, and then you can arrest me and take me away,” he explain-ed in a video posted to Twitter.
The man says that at this point he turned to walk into his backyard and the officer followed him, threw him onto the ground and knelt on his neck.
“Five more minutes and I woulda gone…His whole body weight was smashing my head into the concrete. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move.” he says adding that he lost consciousness and awoke in hospital.
Jaindra Gaindarpersaud told the gazette that he was afraid his son would die.
“When he pinned him to the ground, he was not moving anymore, so I said, he’s going to die just like George Floyd,” he said.
More than a 100 people showed up to protest what is seen as another example of excessive force by American Police.
The Schenectady Police say the incident is being reviewed by the department’s Office of Professional Standards.
