Two NYPD officers pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn on assault and official misconduct charges for allegedly punching and hitting a 16-year-old drug suspect in the face with a gun while the teen had his hands up.
Officers David Afandor and Tyrane Isaac surrendered at the Brooklyn district attorney's office Wednesday, authorities said.
The district attorney's office has been investigating the officers since a video surfaced last month showing them hitting the boy without apparent provocation.
The surveillance footage, which was originally obtained by DNAInfo.com, shows the officers catch up to the teen after a brief chase in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As the suspect stops running one officer throws a punch at his face. Then the other officer hits him with his gun after the teen raises his hands in the air.
The teenager was arrested Aug. 29. Prosecutors said the teen ended up pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and was released.
The teen's lawyer has said officers had no reason to stop him in the first place.
"My client was leaving a friend's apartment, he committed absolutely no crime, he did absolutely nothing wrong, and these officers decided to chase him," said Amy Rameau. "They chased him and they brutalized him."
"You don't get to stop anyone you feel like stopping in the streets when there's no probable cause," she said.
One of the officers, who are from the 79th Precinct, was suspended without pay last month, and the other was placed on modified duty. The NYPD said Tuesday the matter remains under internal review.
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Attorney for both officers, Stephen Worth, said the video doesn't tell the whole story.
"This is not the first time that police officers have been confronted with so-called damning videotape," Worth said Wednesday. "It's only damning because it lacks the context which the officers and the other evidence will provide."
