23-year-old Jazmine Headley was in a bind. Her childcare benefits had ended, cutting her off from daycare for her son. Without daycare, she would have no place to leave her child, forcing her to quit her job so she could take care of him. Like any working mother, this wasn't an option, so she went to her local food stamp center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn to see if she could get help.
But visiting the center, where she hoped she would get some help, turned into a nightmare. The place was packed and since there were no chairs she decided to sit on the floor with her son. Guards asked her to get up, but because there were no seats she refused. That's when all hell broke loose.
NYPD showed up on the scene, and as if she were a common criminal, they surrounded her, demanding she leave. Again she refused; she needed help from the center, and because there were no chairs she had little choice but to sit patiently on the floor.
The cops, however, didn't see it that way. They grabbed at her trying to lift her up, and when that didn't work, they snatched at her baby, grabbing him by whatever limb they could find, attempting to jerk him out of her grip.
The video of the incident is shocking. In it, Jazmine is seen lying on her back, clutching her baby with all her might as a group of cops surround her and yank at her child. The crowd looks on, screaming for the cops to stop and you can here Jazmine yell:
"They're hurting my son!"
In the end, the cops manage to take Jazmine away. She was arrested and is currently in Rikers Island jail and has been charged with a host of offenses, including child endangerment. The charges are ridiculous especially considering that it was the police, not Jazmine, that put her child's safety at risk.
The whole episode is a gross abuse of power. The police should never have handled the situation in that way, and they definitely had no business treating her young boy as if he were a rag doll. Videos like this make people distrust cops and question whether or not they really respect the communities in which they serve.
Watch the horrific video and then tell NYPD that these officers have NO PLACE on the force. Sign the petition and demand that NYPD fire the officers who attacked Jazmine Headley and demand she is released today.
