Officer Elijah Saladeen of the Fifth Precinct was arrested for allegedly beating a handcuffed, homeless, teenager during a confrontation this past February 24 and then lying about the incident on a police report.
Court records say the altercation began when the teenager launched into verbally abusive language against the officer who was answering another call.
Witnesses say after the teen and the officer exchanged pleasantries, the teen was cuffed and Saladeen walked him to the side of the building and allegedly attacked him.
Surveillance video captured at the scene shows Officer Saladeen punching the handcuffed teenager numerous times in the face, neck and torso.
Saladeen's attorney, Rae Downes Koshetz, said the officer denies the allegations. He said that the teenager's wounds were self-inflicted, despite the video and eyewitness accounts of the conflict.
District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. was quoted in the New York Daily News saying, "This defendant is charged with flagrantly abusing his position as an officer of the law when he beat and dragged a young man and then lied about the attack to his superiors."
The teen reportedly needed four stitches to close a wound near his eye.
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