New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the NYPD Tuesday after video emerged showing officers using a stun gun on and punching a Venezuelan migrant holding his baby inside a city shelter.
The cops “took appropriate action” to subdue the “dangerous” man, Adams said when he was asked about the footage, obtained by The New York Times from another resident at the Queens migrant shelter.
“Those officers responded to a person who was dangerous and took appropriate actions,” Adams said during a press conference at City Hall, noting he had spoken with Police Commissioner Edward Caban about the incident over the weekend.
The “child was not going to be endangered,” Adams added. “All of this is on body worn camera.”
The short clip starts as two police officers, called to the shelter for a report of a domestic dispute, try to separate Yanny Cordero, 47, his 1-year-old boy and a woman who were tangling in front of an elevator, the Times reported.
One of the cops then pulls out a stun gun and shocks the asylum-seeker before punching him in the head, according to the video.
The melee continues after the officers grab the tot away, with the cops restraining Cordero on a desk and trying to wrestle him to the ground, the footage shows.
Another officer then jumps in and punches Cordero twice in the face.
“This person was under the influence of alcohol, holding a child. Those officers had to get that child from him,” Adams said Tuesday.
“Based on our review, those officers took appropriate action,” he told reporters.