NYPD officer bragged about taking off protester's mask and pepper-spraying him, bodycam footage shows

INSIDER•June 18, 2020

NYPD officers stand in formation as nearby demonstrators hold an anti-racism rally in Times Square, June 1, 2020, in New York City. Scott Heins/Getty Images NOT WEARING MASKS WAS ILLEGAL AT THE TIME IN THE CITY AND STATE.

A police officer gloated to his colleagues about tearing off a protester's mask and pepper-spraying him, footage from that officer's body camera shows.

The officer, Michael Sher, has been suspended without pay since June 5, the NYPD said.

The protester, Andrew Smith, has called for Sher to face "great consequences."


Andrew Smith, a Black man, had his hands in the air when a New York police officer ripped off his mask and pepper-sprayed him. The May 30 incident in Brooklyn was caught on camera and circulated widely on social media.

When the NYPD published body camera footage on Tuesday, another detail emerged: The officer — who a law enforcement source identified to Insider as Michael Sher — bragged to his colleagues just minutes after the incident.

"I took the guy's goggles, I ripped the s--- off and I used it," Sher said in the video, captured by his own body camera. The NYPD did not immediately respond to questions about the incident.

"It felt like a searing pain," Smith told a local NBC News affiliate. "There should be great consequences for that – and not just a slap on the wrist."

"At a certain level, I've come to expect the police to do things that they shouldn't do," Smith added.

Sher was suspended without pay on June 5, the NYPD said. Because in-person court proceedings are adjourned until October, any investigation into Sher and other instances of police violence would not be rushed, the law enforcement source told Insider.

Body camera footage from the protest.NYPD/YouTube

Smith's attorney, Alain Messena, has called on Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to pursue criminal charges against Sher.

"They have had this information for at least a week. It begs the question, what are you waiting for? Why hasn't this officer been arrested? Why hasn't this officer been charged?," Messena wrote in a letter cited by NBC News. "Andrew Smith has patiently given the Kings County District Attorney's Office the benefit of the doubt. We are beginning to question whether the close ties between NYPD and the District Attorney's Office is preventing the office from charging this officer. If true, that is unacceptable."

Gonzalez's office launched an investigation "shortly after the incident," Oren Yaniv, a spokesperson for Gonzalez, told Insider. "It's an active investigation and we are looking, among other things, to interview other potential victims and witnesses that were seen in the bodycam video."

NYPD Police officers listen as Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York President Pat Lynch.PBA IS NOT A UNION IT IS A WHITE COP FRATERNAL LODGE TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

Since anti-racist protests erupted in New York and around the country last month, the NYPD has come under fire for numerous instances of police brutality against peaceful protesters. Videos of NYPD officers using violence against peaceful protesters have circulated widely on social media.

When a reporter asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo about instances of police bludgeoning protesters with batons, he said the question itself was "a little offensive." There are too many videos of police beating protesters to list them all.

"A police officer doing their job, do you think there is any sensible police officer who believes their job is bludgeoning a peaceful person with a baton?" Cuomo asked at a press conference in early June.

Days earlier, footage emerged of two NYPD cruisers driving through a crowd of protesters, and of an officer aiming his handgun at protesters.

Voices have been overheard on a citywide police scanner saying, "Run them over" and "Shoot those motherf---ers," referring to protesters.

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