Yonkers police sergeant's response to brawl being investigated by department
YONKERS, N.Y. -- There is controversy in Westchester County over video that captured what a police sergeant did when she came upon several men fighting in the street.
Some say she did not do enough and now Yonkers police have placed her on modified duty as they investigate, CBS2's Lisa Rozner reported Monday.
The surveillance video shows Sgt. Amy Kielb slowly exit her marked vehicle as three men are engaged in a brawl on Yonkers Avenue. Police say Kielb came upon the tussle during her tour last Tuesday at around 6:30 p.m.
As the two-on-one fight gets out of control, Kielb appears to watch. At one point, a fourth man comes over to attack the victim, too. The sergeant is seen trying to pull two of the men away by the arms and use her radio, but Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza said there are many questions.
"I didn't like what I saw when I saw the video, but I do understand that there might be more to the story and we are going to afford our supervisor a full investigation into what happened," Sapienza said. "You have violent people fighting. We learned later that not just the two persons you see fighting, but there's actually four people in total, so now you have four against one, so that certainly plays a factor."
He said every officer has pepper spray, a Taser, and other tools to deal with situations. The investigation will look at whether she was properly equipped per department policy, and it will include body camera footage which has audio.
The commissioner said it is policy for supervisors to travel alone, adding Kielb did call for backup that came in less than a minute.
For now, Kielb has been placed on modified duty and is working in an administrative capacity.
CBS2 showed the video to two former members of law enforcement in the NYPD.
"I just look at the passe attitude from the sergeant. It's as if we have people that are delivering groceries," former NYPD Academy Supervisor Darrin Porcher said. "You need to take immediate action. This was an emergency situation. If there was in essence a perceived threat from the officer's perspective, she should have merely waited in the vehicle until the additional resources responded on the scene."
"You don't want to, uh, use force when you're at a tactical disadvantage, which clearly she was, because there were three individuals who were probably drunk, who were fighting each other," added Keith Taylor of CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Her efforts to get them apart without using force may have been, uh, an attempt to not become a target of their aggression."
The sergeant's union issued a statement, saying, in part, "..this association is concerned that statements made by city representatives critically pre-judge the appropriateness of Sgt. Kielb's conduct. This rush to judgment can only prejudice Sgt. Kielb's civil service rights and will render any further investigation predictably preordained."
It called for the investigation to be fair, balanced and objective. The commissioner said it will be, and had this message for the public:
"They shouldn't be concerned as to whether or not the police will do their job. We will continue to respond. We will continue to do our job and we will continue to take action," Sapienza said.
Yonkers police said Sgt. Kielb will remain on modified duty until the internal investigation is finished. She has 11 years on the job, and does not have any history of disciplinary action. Police did arrest two brothers for the fight and the victim has non-life threatening injuries.
CORRECTION: The altercation began near a bar. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the fight began inside a bar.