(VIDEO) NYPD COP CRACKS BOY'S SKULL WITH NIGHTSTICK FOR ALLEGEDLY FARE JUMPING AT A BROOKLYN SUBWAY STATION

DONOVON LAWSON

An NYPD cop cracked an accused fare beater over the head with his nightstick in a Brooklyn subway station – splattering blood over other straphangers in a violent confrontation captured by witnesses on video.
Donovan Lawson, 20, was grabbed by the uniformed officer just before 8 p.m., Thursday at the Myrtle Avenue station, but started wriggling while the cop tried to subdue him, according to Marielle Anas, who shot one of several videos of the arrest.

“He was trying to restrain him,” said Anas, 28, a writer for Wenner Media. “He punched the kid’s head like three or four times.”

As a crowd, including Lawson’s girlfriend, gathered and yelled at the cop to stop, he again punched Lawson, who was still struggling as the officer tried to cuff him.

The cop at that point slammed Lawson into a wall, pulled out his baton and struck the suspect on the head, a blow that caused blood to gush over a wall, turnstile and witnesses’ clothing, she said.

“That first crack was like ‘Woah, what’s going on?” Anas said. “Then everyone was like ’Why would he crack [him] with a nightstick?’”

“The whole subway was covered in blood. The kid never lost consciousness but he definitely looked out of it. He hugged a pole to steady himself. Then the cop dragged him down the stairs.”

The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating the incident.

He was charged with intent to defraud public transportation, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, harassment and obstruction of governmental administration.

Anas, who was interviewed by Internal Affairs, said she dialed 911 for an ambulance after the suspect was struck.

Video is graphically disturbing but is a clear example of the treatment African-Americans men suffer at the hands of law enforcement in the United States.