Man Says There Was 'Something Wrong That Day' With Officer Accused Of Stomping On Head During Arrest
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man accusing a police officer of stomping on his head came face-to-face with the officer in court on Wednesday.
The incident was caught on video.
The July 23, 2014 video in Bedford-Stuyvesant shows a police officer's boot versus a suspect resisting arrest, CBS2's Steve Langford reported. It's the key to the criminal case in which NYPD Officer Joel Edouard faces charges of assault and attempted assault.
"He kicked me in the head, my head hit the concrete," Jahmiel Cuffee told CBS2.
Cuffee, the man on the other end of the police officer's boot that day, was the victim of "blind and uncontrolled anger," according to the prosecution.
"That officer just had something... something was wrong with him that day," Cuffee said.
But Edouard's defense tells a different story about what happened that day, claiming in court that the cop, one of several trying to subdue the suspect, brought his boot down on the man's hand.
"Mr. Cuffee's wrist and hand area, yes," defense attorney Anthony Ricco said.
A photo of apparent injuries to the suspect's head taken the day after the arrest are disputed by the police officer's defense team, who say Cuffee's public appearances in the days after the arrest show no such wounds.
The man resisting arrest is on a quest for justice and penalties against his arresting officer.
"Jail time, loss of job, whatever's a possibility," he said.
The question remains: did the police officer stomp on the man's head or on his hand? A guilty verdict could land the cop in jail for up to a year.