Silence from elected officials

To the editor:

(re: “Video shows cop punching suspect,” Oct. 12)

As readers of The Riverdale Press are no doubt aware, an incident of police brutality occurred in Marble Hill on Oct. 6 when an officer from the 50th Precinct pounded 16-year-old Bronx resident Alfred Burns 13 times in the head while the minor was pinned and immobilized.

In response, Deputy Inspector Terence O’Toole, commanding officer of the 50th, brushed off the officer’s behavior by saying that those who say the video of the incident — which received widespread attention in city media — simply “saw police work in action.” He went on to predict that the teen might “have to be shot” in the future for failure to comply, and because he, O’Toole, deems Burns to be incorrigible due to previous problems with law enforcement.

He said that passersby may be sought and apprehended for screaming and trying to stop the officer from inflicting what could have been deadly force.

As of this day, as we await a New York Police Department internal affairs investigation of this incident, no action has been taken. The identity of the police officer who endangered the well-being of Alfred Burns remains hidden from the public. The 16-year-old is under lock and key on Rikers Island.

As a local resident and a member of the Northwest Bronx Racial Justice coalition, I call on Bronx elected officials and community board members to make their views known. 

Do you condone the dangerous beating of an immobilized teen apprehended for stealing a bicycle? Do you condone the statements of the local NYPD commanding officer, who has given a wink and a nod to his subordinates to shoot suspects for “failure to comply”? Where do you stand on this local incident, which is but one example of the police brutality that continues to reverberate throughout the nation?

What is your definition of leadership on these issues?

Jennifer Scarlott