After Video Shows Apparent Chokehold, N.Y.P.D. Suspends Officer

The New York Police Department on Sunday suspended a police officer involved in the arrest of a black man in Queens after cellphone video of the encounter showed the officer appearing to use an illegal chokehold.

The incident on the Rockaway boardwalk Sunday morning took place only days after the City Council passed a law making the use of a chokehold by police a criminal offense. It also came as protesters have marched against police brutality for weeks in New York City and across the nation.

The man who was arrested, Ricky Bellevue, 35, was being treated at a Queens hospital on Sunday evening, according to Lori Zeno, executive director of Queens Defenders, which is representing him. His condition was not immediately available.

Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in a tweet on Sunday evening that after a “swift investigation,” the officer involved in the “disturbing apparent chokehold incident in Queens has been suspended without pay.”

“While a full investigation is still underway, there is no question in my mind that this immediate action is necessary,” Commissioner Shea said. “We are committed to transparency as this process continues.”

Before the announcement of the officer’s suspension, the police released more than 30 minutes of body camera footage from the encounter, showing Mr. Bellevue, accompanied by two other men, becoming upset with officers over an earlier altercation, not seen on the video.

Police said that before the arrest, at around 8:45 a.m., they had received complaints about a man who was yelling and screaming at people in Rockaway Park.

In the body camera footage, Mr. Bellevue appeared to be holding something after reaching into a trash can. Twice, he asked if the officers were scared, before the officer wearing the camera rushed in to grab him.

The cellphone video, taken in the vicinity of Beach 116th Street, shows three officers on top of Mr. Bellevue, including one officer, whom Ms. Zeno named as David Afanador, appearing to press his forearm into the man’s neck while bystanders yelled that the man was being choked. The shield number of the officer in the video matches Officer Afanador’s name in a public database of federal lawsuits against police maintained by the Legal Aid Society.

Mr. Bellevue lost consciousness during the arrest, according to Ms. Zeno, and he appears limp in the cellphone video. He was taken into custody on suspicion of disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest, she said. Ms. Zeno said he had a bloody scalp and swollen wrists when she saw him in the precinct.

“He was on such a hard chokehold that he couldn’t speak to say he couldn’t breathe,” she said.

Officer Afanador can be heard on the body camera footage telling another person that Mr. Bellevue, who the authorities knew had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the other two men appeared to be intoxicated. Then Mr. Bellevue acted as if he was going to hit another officer with something, Officer Afanador said.

“The minute I saw him flex on him, that’s when he goes down because we don’t get hurt and we’re not going to leave somebody violent out here who might do that to one of you or another innocent person,” Officer Afanador can be heard saying. “That’s why he’s in cuffs and that’s why he’s going to the hospital because we know he’s ill.”

By late afternoon, video clips of the arrest began circulating online, prompting widespread outrage and calls for an investigation and the release of the officers’ body camera footage.

The State Legislature and City Council passed legislation making chokeholds a criminal offense after protests against police brutality erupted across the state and the country prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police.

A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes before he died.

The New York state law, passed two weeks ago, makes it a felony for police to use chokeholds that result in serious physical injury or death. But the City Council legislation passed last week applies to any maneuver intended to cut off breathing regardless of the resulting injury.

“I’m just lost for words,” said Donovan Richards, a councilman who represents part of the Rockaways. “We just went through George Floyd. We see these incidents time and time again. When is it going to end?”

He called for the officers involved in the arrest to be held accountable.

“Why did it escalate to that level?” he said. “We talk about de-escalation. Could this have been de-escalated? We talk about training, but obviously the training ain’t working.”

The encounter drew about two dozen protesters to the front of the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach on Sunday evening, with some sitting down on the roadway of Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

Metal barricade fencing separated the protesters from a handful of officers standing outside the precinct and on its steps. Protest leaders with bullhorns led chants of “Black Lives Matter” in between emotional remarks, some directed at the officers.

Sean Piccoli contributed reporting.