Caught on video, NYPD social distancing patrols turn violent

One newly surfaced video of social distancing enforcement gone wrong in New York City shows a police officer running at a black man and throwing him to the ground for mouthing off. Another shows an officer punching a man in the head as he lay pinned to a sidewalk, unable to fight back.

Despite mounting pressure from watchdogs to stop using police to enforce social distancing, Mayor Bill de Blasio stood by the practice on Thursday, saying: "We are not going to sideline the NYPD."
"I am not making my decisions based on a very few interactions that were handled poorly or went bad," de Blasio said. "I am making my decisions based on the millions of interactions that are going right."
"Police are using enforcement of social distancing as cover to initiate and engage in abusive broken windows policing, with threats and physical attacks against New Yorkers," Joo-Hyun Kang, the director of Communities United for Police Reform, said. "It is time for Mayor de Blasio to step in and remove the NYPD immediately from all social distancing enforcement."
"I thought police were meant to de-escalate a situation, not escalate it," said the roughed up bystander, Adegoke Atunbi, who was cited for disorderly conduct. "It is a scary thing to be put on the ground. You have six-seven people on top of you. You have no way to defend yourself, thinking you might die. It does something to your mind."