Santiago Hernandez was badly beaten by six New York police officers responding to a complaint of excessive noise in the Bronx last month. Hernandez said he was pepper sprayed, beaten with night sticks, and kicked. The entire incident was captured on video. Hernandez was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, but those charges were subsequently dropped. But why was he stopped, frisked, beaten and arrested in the first place is what Hernandez does not understand.
The NYPD has initiated an investigation into what prompted the female officer to stop Santiago Hernandez and why the incident led to him being beaten and arrested. It seems to be a continuation of a disturbing trend in New York and elsewhere in the country that has seen minorities stopped for minor offenses and end up injured or killed.
The two videos, one from a security camera and one taken with a cellphone, confirm Hernandez’s claim that he did nothing but ask the officer why he was randomly being stopped questioned and searched before he was badly beaten and arrested.
If Hernandez was guilty of something, why were the charges immediately dropped? That’s one question many are asking and the New York police department doesn’t seem to have any answers other than the incident is under investigation. Were there legitimate grounds to attempt to search and detain Hernandez, or is this just another case of random police brutality and the arrest a pretext used to justify the illegal actions of these officers?