The Associated Press
NEW YORK- A black teenager is claiming four police officers beat him without provocation earlier this month, breaking his left wrist and fracturing his right elbow, and his lawyer is questioning whether race was a factor.
Xavier Simpson, 17, has filed a complaint with the police department, attorney Norman Siegel, a former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said Saturday after a press conference.
According to Siegel, Simpson was on 221st Street near 113th Avenue in Queens on June 8 when four police officers in an unmarked car summoned him. Siegel said the police — a sergeant and three officers from the 105th precinct — asked Simpson basic questions, such as his name, which he answered.
Then, and for no apparent reason, according to Siegel, the police got out of the car and began hitting and kicking Simpson. The teenager was handcuffed, taken to the precinct and strip-searched, Siegel said. His mother, a corrections officer, arrived and complained about his health, and he was taken to a hospital for examination, Siegel said.
“You can’t dismiss the possibility that there was some racial profiling here,” Siegel said.
The department’s top spokesman, Paul Browne, said in a written statement Saturday that Simpson had been observed “impeding north and south bound traffic” and that he was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest “after fighting efforts to handcuff him.”
“After complaining of pain to his arm he was brought to the Queens General Hospital, treated and released, and returned later the same day for re-evaluation and additional x-rays,” the statement said.
The police officials involved have not been named by either side, and Siegel said he was uncertain of the race of the officers. Police said they could not release any details about the internal investigation.
Siegel disputed Browne’s statement, saying the location of the incident attracts little traffic and that there was no reason the teenager, who also suffered cuts and bruises, should have been injured.
Siegel said the family plans to ask the district attorney to drop any charges against Simpson.