Security Video Shows NYC Teen Allegedly Beaten, Tased by Cops on Bronx Street
Mayor Bill de Blasio said he talked with the family and was "really troubled" by what he heard; he also pledged to get answers. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer called the incident "horrific."
The video is raising questions about why police used a Taser to subdue a 16-year-old boy. Tracie Strahan reports.
What to Know
A 16-year-old Bronx boy was allegedly beaten and Tased by police amid one of the city's most chaotic protest and looting nights in recent weeks
According to the family, Jahmel Leach was walking along Fordham Road on the night of June 1 as looting was happening; relatives say Leach was just watching the protests, not participating in any mayhem
A law enforcement source told NBC New York that Leach was suspected of being a looter along the street; the NYPD has launched an investigation
The family of a Bronx teen is demanding answers after they say the 16-year-old was beaten and Tased by NYPD amid a night of chaotic protests and looting stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
According to the family, Jahmel Leach was walking along Fordham Road on the night of June 1 as several businesses were being targeted by looters. However, Leach was not participating in the looting or arson going on, his family told the New York Daily News.
"I demand justice. And I won't stop until I get it," the teen's mother, Daisy Acevedo, said Thursday afternoon, with her recovering son standing beside her wearing a mask that had "justice" written across it. "I'm not speaking just for my son, I'm speaking for every youth in America. This has to stop."
"It's just sad. It's just really, really sad," the teen's cousin Yamil Miller told the newspaper. Miller said that Jahmel had never been arrested before, and was only watching the protests, not participating in them.
A senior law enforcement official told NBC New York that Leach was suspected of being a looter along the street; that source said there is video of him entering and exiting a T-Mobile store that had been looted that night. NBC News obtained the security video that allegedly shows him striking a match or lighter five times to start a trash fire on the street near the store.
A senior law enforcement official says a new video shows Jahmel Leach, 16, trying to light garbage on fire in the Bronx during one of the protests. The teen was tased and brutally beaten by police officers and his family is demanding justice.
As he allegedly does that, an unmarked police car can be seen on video pulling up with three uniformed police officers coming out, and he's stunned by one of the cops, the officials said. Leach is seen getting hit with the Taser probes and falling flat on his face.
The officers then are seen trying to arrest Leach and hit him with a baton twice, once to the lower back and once to the legs, the official said. There is no video that shows officers hitting Leach in the face with a baton, despite photos that show serious injuries to his face, the senior law enforcement official said.
But Jahmel's family says it was a case of mistaken identity, and that the boy was standing next to the alleged arsonist, and was not the one striking the match.
"The family makes it clear he was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time perhaps, but what is the NYPD doing tasing a 16-year-old boy" and using a baton on him, attorney Sanford Rubenstein said.
AP Photo
Protesters gather in Times Square before marching through the streets of Manhattan in New York, Monday, June 1, 2020. New York City imposed an 11 p.m. curfew Monday as the nation’s biggest city tried to head off another night of destruction erupting amid protests over George Floyd’s death. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Chief of Department of the New York City Police, Terence Monahan, takes a knee with activists as protesters paused while walking in New York, Monday, June 1, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
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Police officers arrest a large group of people at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Monday, June 1, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York City to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Sidnoma Ouango wears a President Barack Obama sweat shirt while waiting to join a community effort to help store owners clean up, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in the Fordham Road area of the Bronx borough of New York. Protesters broke into stores Monday night in reaction to George Floyd’s death while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Volunteers Christian Tyler and Ashante West, right, carry brooms after participating in a community cleanup effort as they walk by a boarded up pawnbroker’s store, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in the Fordham Road area of the Bronx borough of New York. Protesters broke into stores Monday night in reaction to George Floyd’s death while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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People hand out water and snacks from a convertible as protesters march by in New York, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. New York City extended an 8 p.m. curfew all week as officials struggled Tuesday to stanch destruction and growing complaints that the nation’s biggest city was reeling out of control night-by-night. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Protesters take a knee on Flatbush Avenue in front of New York City police officers during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Thursday, June 4, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
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Protesters rally near Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, in New York, Wednesday, June 3, 2020. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the city has taken a “step forward” in restoring order with the help of an early curfew. Tuesday night brought more big protests over the death of George Floyd and sporadic reports of vandalism, but much less of the widespread plundering of stores amid a huge police presence. Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
AP Photo
Demonstrators march over the Brooklyn Bridge, Thursday, June 4, 2020, in New York, after a memorial service for George Floyd, who died May 25 after being restrained by police in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death last week at the hands of Minneapolis police has prompted ongoing global protests against police brutality. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
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Healthcare workers at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital lie down for several minutes to show their respect for George Floyd, Thursday, June 4, 2020 in New York during the coronavirus pandemic. Floyd died while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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A police officer shouts at Associated Press videojournalist Robert Bumsted, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in New York. New York City police officers surrounded, shoved and yelled expletives at two Associated Press journalists covering protests Tuesday in the latest aggression against members of the media during a week of unrest around the country. Portions of the incident were captured on video by Bumsted, who was working with photographer Wong Maye-E to document the protests in lower Manhattan over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
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Protesters rally on the steps of a courthouse in Foley Square in New York, Sunday, May 31, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Workers board up windows of a Reebok store, Monday, June 1, 2020, in New York’s Union Square. Protesters broke store windows Sunday night in reaction to George Floyd’s death while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Protesters march down a street during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of Floyd, a black man in police custody in Minneapolis who died after being restrained by police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
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Men walk with their hands up as they pass near a large group of police officers making arrests in New York, Monday, June 1, 2020. A fourth day of protests against police brutality kept New York City on edge Sunday, as thousands of people marched and many protesters and officers tried to keep the peace after days of unrest that left police cars burned and hundreds of people under arrest. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
AP Photo
Protesters march down a street during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of Floyd, a black man in police custody in Minneapolis who died after being restrained by police officers (AP Photo/Ragan Clark)
AP Photo
Activists march to the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday, May 31, 2020, in New York. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York City to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).
AP Photo
Protesters march down a street during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of Floyd, a black man in police custody in Minneapolis who died after being restrained by police officers (AP Photo/Ragan Clark)
AP Photo
Police face off with activists during a protest march in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the Brooklyn borough of New York on Sunday, May 31, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets of the city to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).
No stolen merchandise was found on Leach when he was placed under arrest, the law enforcement source said. His family denies the looting claim and said the teen had been charged with misdemeanor arson.
Miller told the Daily News that the police did not notify Leach's family when he was arrested, which they're required to do whenever a minor is placed under arrest. He said that Leach's mother was told about what happened when she received a call from St. Barnabas Hospital that night, and found him there with his face injured, swollen and bloodied.
The senior law enforcement official tells News 4 that NYPD records show Leach’s mother was notified of her son’s arrest at 11:30 p.m., about two and a half hours after he was first taken into custody on the street. The family said that Leach was led from the hospital to the police precinct barefoot and in nothing but a backless hospital gown.
Miller claims the officer who arrested Leach "beat" and "exploited" the teen.
I’ve spoken to Jahmel’s family and I’m really troubled by what they told me.
We’re going to get them answers. The NYPD has launched an investigation into what happened. https://t.co/nhEof7tMyP
"People, we don't treat human beings that way, especially minors. It impacts the rest of their lives," Miller said at the press conference Thursday outside the Bronx DA's office.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said he talked with the boy's family and was "really troubled" by what he heard, and also pledged to get answers as he called for an investigation to provide some answers over the next few days.. The mayor was also photographed with Leach at a protest, with the picture posted on Miller's Instagram on Thursday.
"I met the young man. I met his family. I'm very concerned," the mayor said. "I want to make sure we get the truth and I want to make sure we follow through based on what the facts tell us and we'll have more to say on that in the next few days."
The mayor was not the only New York City leader to comment on the incident. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer called it "horrific" and called for an independent investigation. School Chancellor Richard Carranza said he also was "horrified" to see the injuries the teen suffered, adding that there is no place for violence against their students.
The NYPD has launched an "active investigation" into Leach's case, the senior law enforcement official said.
