October 20, 2021, 8:22 am
A masked civilian on NYC transit approached some NYPD cops who were unmasked, and requested they follow the law and put masks on. The maskless cops responded by manhandling him, ultimately shoving him out of the subway station.
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The incident was caught on video by a fellow commuter, and has sparked outrage online. Two officers can be seen grabbing the man and shoving him through an emergency exit from the platform at the 8th Street station in Greenwich Village around 8:50 a.m. on Tuesday, October 19.
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The man, named Andrew Gilbert, was on his way to work when he saw the law-breaking officers. Gilbert pulled out his phone and started filming, while requesting they comply with public safety regulations and put on face coverings.
“The male officer was playing dumb and claimed he couldn’t hear me. I kept asking him over and over, ‘Do you know it’s illegal not to wear a mask,’” Gilbert explained. “I kept asking him the same thing and then he said, ‘You’re being disruptive,’ which I guess is their keyword for doing whatever they want if they declare you disruptive.
“He just walked into me, grabbed me and pushed me. He grabbed me by the shirt and pushed me over to the emergency exit and slammed me through it, and was yelling at me how, ‘If you’re not going to ride the train you can get out.’”
Victoria Hall, the fellow rider who filmed the incident, witnessed the confrontation between Gilbert and the police as she got off the W train.
“He was just trying to find out why the police were not putting their mask on and the police were just being hostile,” Hall said. She posted the video on Twitter because, as she phrased it, “that’s not right.”
“When you’re on the train you hear non-stop announcements [about wearing masks]. And here you are with the police brazenly not even wearing it under the chin,” she said. “I was a bit shook up by the whole thing.”
As the kerfuffle continued to garner attention and anger online, high-profile public figures such as Chris Hayes began to weigh in:
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Metropolitan Transportation Authority higher-ups have repeatedly asked the NYPD to do better at following the law that stipulates all New Yorkers must wear masks on trains and indoor stations, in order to prevent the spread (again) of COVID-19. Officers have been repeatedly caught on film defying the public health mandates.
Ironically, Gilbert’s assault by anti-masker, law-breaking cops occurred on the same morning that MTA leaders handed out masks to riders at other transit stations, as part of the agency’s monthly Mask Force campaign.
The NYPD and the MTA’s own Police Department can issue a $50 fine for riders who don’t comply with the mask rules. And New Yorkers can issue justified vitriol on Twitter:
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MTA spokesperson Tim Minton declined to comment on the officers’ conduct as revealed in the footage.
“I cannot speak for the way the NYPD addresses its officers when they are found to violate rules,” Minton stated. “We anticipate that anyone who is in public transit will wear a mask for the safety of themselves, fellow New Yorkers, and transit workers.”
At the time of this writing, the NYPD’s press office has not issued any statement or comment to address the officers’ manhandling of a civilian, nor regarding the officers’ conduct in open defiance of public health and safety laws.
*First Published: October 20, 2021, 8:22 am
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