LET'S GO NYPD!

Greenpoint resident Carrie Brodigan reports being arrested and physically and verbally assualted by NYPD officer Joel Witriol (the city's first Hasidic cop, widely recognized in 2006) as she left the L train with her sick pug dog. Brodigan's dog began to vomit after overheating as she rode the train; the incident took place as the officer attempted to issue Brodigan a ticket for carrying the animal outside of the required bag/containers. Brodigan says, "He punched me in the back (there are bruises), he handcuffed me, and in the scuffle grabbed my breasts and pinched them." Witnesses say the cop's tone was unecessarily hostile--onlooker Melissa Randazzo heard Witriol say things like, "Are you going to act like a woman?" Randazzo says Brodigan tried to walk away, but Witriol grabbed her and slammed her aganist the wall outside of the turnstile. A 911 call was made and 20 officers showed up to disperse the increasing crowd of witnesses. Brodigan says she was taken in to the J stop headquarters, handcuffed and placed in a cell with two other woman who hit and spit on her when she wouldn't stop crying. She was told her dog had been taken to the pound to be put down. In her own words:

"They took my pug and he told me he was taking him to the pound where he would be "put down." I was taken to the J stop headquarters. I wasn't allowed to call a lawyer and I was put in a cell with handcuffs on with two other women who spit on me and hit me in the head, because they weren't in handcuffs and I was crying so much it bothered them. I was given 3 tickets: failure to produce ID, disorderly conduct, and failure to have dog in a container. I have a court date in August. I asked for a pen to write the badge numbers down before I left and they refused to give me a pen and covered up their badges. My pug was returned. They had him behind their desks and were playing with him."

The NYPD Press Office declined to verify any details about the arrest. Go figure.

(via Gothamist.com)