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Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Memo To Police Officers: Don't Push Unruly Pregnant Women To The Ground Then Hit Them With A Baton

    After a video posted online showed cops knocking a pregnant woman to the ground and then pushing another woman during a Brooklyn melee, the NYPD opened an internal affairs investigation. The video shows Sandra Amezquita intervening in her teenage son's arrest early Saturday September 20, 2014 in Sunset Park. The pregnant woman is in a scuffle with the officers who are seen pushing her to the ground onto her stomach while they are trying to subdue her. They then shoved another woman when she tried to approach them.

     Cops from the 72nd Precinct were arresting Amezquita's son, 17-year-old Jhohan Lemos, for allegedly having a knife when several of his family members tried to intervene…"Oh, my God, she's pregnant," one onlooker says in the video after Amezquita was thrown to the pavement and handcuffed.

     Jhohan Lemos was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and harassment…The teen's dad, 50-year-old Ronel Lemos, also got into the tussle with cops and was booked for assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and harassment…A third man, 46-year-old Secundino Payamps, was also busted for assault on a police officer, obstruction of justice, and harassment. Officers issued a summons to Amezquita for her part in the melee…

     "Her belly is now black and blue with bruises," a witness told a TV reporter. "She's bleeding and she's having complications."…[In August 2015, the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board found that the police officer had acted improperly when he pushed the pregnant woman to the ground then hit her with his baton. The review board recommended that this officer be docked up to five days of vacation time. A second officer was placed on modified duty. Critics of the review board's recommendations in this case were outraged at what they considered slaps on the wrist. A federal lawsuit is pending. No one ever said that being a police officer was easy.]

Antonio Antenucci and Aaron Feis, "Cops Wrestle Pregnant Woman to the Ground in Disturbing Clip," The New York Post, September 24, 2014

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