UNITED STATES -July 16: NYPD officers investigate after a female suffered serious head injuries in a crash at the corner of McGuinness Boulevard and Huron Street in Greenpoint, Saturday, July 16, 2022. (Photo by (Jeff Bachner for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
An NYPD officer was seen on video punching a teenage girl and knocking her to the ground in a viral clip, and now the girl and her boyfriend are facing charges.
Tamani Crum, 19, appeared in court for obstruction charges after the incident, which occurred in Harlem on Tuesday.
Her boyfriend, 22-year-old Elvin James, was the man Crum was trying to protect when she stood in front of NYPD officers in the now-viral clip.
James himself appeared in court overnight following the incident, and has been charged with weapons and drugs offenses, according to the New York Post.
Crum could be seen swinging at Detective Kendo Kinsey as he attempted to arrest her boyfriend on suspicion of attempted murder, the outlet reports.
Kinsey then punched her in the face amidst the squabble, launching her off of her feet and on to the ground.
The confrontation has since gone viral after a bystander filmed the interaction and posted it to social media on Wednesday, with many calling the act an example of police brutality.
However, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the police unions are standing by Detective Kinsey, claiming her boyfriend was armed at the time and that the officer had no choice but to use force to neutralize Crum, according to the Post.
The NYPD have since released the officer’s bodycam footage in an effort to help clear Kinsey’s name.
Meanwhile, police associations and NYPD unions say the viral clip shows how bold and brazen criminals have become in the Big Apple, and noted the teen shouldn’t have interfered with an arresting officer.
Crum was ultimately released from custody Wednesday night and is due back in court for another appearance on October 11.
Her boyfriend remains held behind bars on a $300,000 cash bond, the Post reports. The circumstances of the suspicion of attempted murder charges remain unclear, but it’s believed James was among a group of men involved in a shooting on August 12, the outlet reports.
The Detective Endowment’s Association, one of the largest police unions in the country, doubled down on their support of Detective Kinsey yesterday and even threatened legal action against Crum.
“Criminals in NY have grown accustomed to there being no consequences for their dangerous, illegal actions – but when you assault a New York City Detective in order to interfere with an arrest of a man armed with a gun there are repercussions,” Union President Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement last night.
NYPD officials have maintained that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “soft-on-crime” approach has led to a widespread crime wave that’s plagued the city in recent months.
In July, The Post reported that New York City saw a 37 percent spike in major crimes throughout the five boroughs,
Grand larceny shot up 49 percent so far this year over last year as of July — from 18,058 to 26,908. Auto theft increased by 46.2 percent, from 4,855 to 7,100.
Robbery was up 39.2 percent, from 6,530 to 9,091, and burglaries increased by 32.9 percent from 6,251 to 8,305, NYPD data show. Felonious assault rose by 18.6 percent while rapes saw an 11 percent increase so far this year compared to 2021.
“This is going to probably be a record year for increasing crime in New York City,” Joseph Giacalone, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and a former NYPD sergeant, told The Post.
Reverend Al Sharpton and his National Action Network has since come to the support of Crum and is reportedly helping her with her legal defense.
At a press conference on Wednesday, representatives for Sharpton accused Crum of being the victim of a barbaric police force.
However, Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, the spokeswoman for the National Police Association, told DailyMail.com that Crum should have never interfered with the arrest and is hardly a victim, and challenged the media’s portrayal of her as a young teenage girl.
“Tamani Crum, a 19-year-old adult, made the decision to insert herself into a very dangerous situation as NYPD detectives and officers attempted to arrest a wanted murder suspect who was armed with a loaded firearm,” Sgt. Smith told the outlet. “It’s clear by the video that she was interfering with a lawful arrest.”
Crum could be seen hugging her mother after being released from custody on Wednesday.
