An NYPD officer was caught on a disturbing video tackling a clearly pregnant woman and riding her to the ground early Saturday in Brooklyn.
The recording shows Sandra Amezquita, who is 5-foot-4 and five months pregnant, being grabbed by the arm and thrown to the pavement with the cop on her back in Sunset Park around 2:15 a.m.
The baby’s father, Ronel Lemos, said he watched in horror as his wife hit the ground belly-first.
“The first thing I thought was they killed my baby and they’re going to kill my wife,” Lemos, 50, told the Daily News on Tuesday.
Moments later, another unidentified woman was violently flung to the ground on Fifth Ave. and 41st St.
“You would think the police would respect a woman that is pregnant,” Amezquita, 43, said through an interpreter in an exclusive interview with The News.
“I was afraid something happened to my baby. I am still afraid that something is wrong,” she said, referring to the abdominal pain that persists.
JESSE WARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSSandra Amezquita, 44, says she was violently pushed to the ground by police in Sunset Park while trying to intervene during his son's arrest and alleged beating by 72nd Precinct cops.
JESSE WARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSJhohan Lemos, 17, was arrested by the police for criminal possession of a knife and resisting arrest. He is shown bruised and battered after his run-in with police.
Amezquita suffered vaginal bleeding after the incident, and her belly and arm still bear bruises.
She was given a summons for disorderly conduct and her husband was arrested for assaulting a police officer, cops said.
The officer is the second cop from the 72nd Precinct in a week to be under investigation by the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau after getting caught on video.
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Police Commissioner Bill Bratton last week suspended a cop caught on camera kicking a street vendor on Fifth Ave. in Sunset Park as he was being subdued by fellow officers.
Sanford Rubenstein, a civil rights lawyer retained by Amezquita and Lemos, said both videos depicting alleged police brutality were recorded by the same bystander.
“It is incidents like this that account for police-community relations being at an all-time low in New York City,” Rubenstein said.
The cops were arresting the couple’s 17-year-old son, Jhohan Lemos, for possession of a knife clipped to his belt, when the cops were attacked.
JESSE WARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSRonel Lemos says he was helpless to keep his wife from harm. He was arrested after trying to get police off his 17-year-old son.
The parents said they were responding to cries from their son being beaten when they were set upon by the cops.
Jhohan’s face appears battered and his right eye swollen shut in photos taken after his arrest.
Ronel Lemos was charged with striking Office Elvis Merizalde in the back and shoulder while he was arresting Jhohan, according to the criminal complaint.
Amezquita, the mother of four children, emigrated from Colombia and recently stopped working.
The couple has already selected a name for the unborn baby boy — Kevin.
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