Intense Confrontation Between Cop, Street Vendor Caught On Video
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- Their patrol cars have the words "Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect" painted on them but one city street vendor claims that he has received the opposite treatment from an NYPD officer.
An intense confrontation between the two was caught on cell phone video.
The now viral video was taken by a street vendor who asked to go unnamed.
He told CBS 2's Tracee Carrasco that the officer ticketed him for illegally parking his ice cream truck in Herald Square. The vendor denied the charge.
"I try to explain in the full video, can you explain why I'm not allowed to be here and she couldn't come up with an answer," the vendor said.
"Go for it, I don't care. Go for it, go for it," the officer says in the video, reportedly after the vendor says he is going to record her.
"You are a maniac. What is wrong with you?" the vendor, who is not in the view of the camera, says to the officer.
"What's wrong with you?" the officer says.
"You've got to stop acting up like this," the vendor replies.
At that point, the officer apparently responded with profanity and an obscene gesture. Days after the video was released, the NYPD said that the incident was under investigation.
"That's been referred to the civilian complaint review board," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "Once in a while you get a bad apple. It doesn't mean that the whole NYPD is bad."
Street vendors say that the issue goes beyond the video.
"It's one thing to give tickets and enforce the laws but they should do it with respect," explained Sean Basinski, The Street Vendor Project, "We're just normal decent citizens trying to make a living."
Street vendors told CBS 2 that they want to work with police to prevent incidents like the one that was caught on video.
The officer involved in the incident is still on the street while the incident is being reviewed.
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