Last week, a 14-year-old boy
was arrested after allegedly assaulting someone in the Bronx. While Javier
Payne was in custody, a police officer allegedly threw him—while handcuffed—
through a glass shop window because Javier resisted arrest. Now, the police
officer has been stripped of his gun and badge.
The Daily News reports,
"Sgt. Eliezer Pabon of the 48th Precinct was placed on modified assignment
early Friday after investigators from the Internal Affairs Bureau reviewed a
video of the May 17 incident, law enforcement sources said... 'It seems the
sergeant overreacted,' a source said. The video shows Pabon shoving Javier
Payne from behind, causing the boy to plunge forward and strike the window of
the Hookah Spot on Arthur Ave. with his head, shattering the glass, the sources
said."
Police nabbed Javier with a
friend because an assault victim had ID'd them as his attackers. The boy was
apparently bleeding profusely, and paramedics argued with police to remove the
handcuffs so he could be treated.
According to Juvenile Justice
Information Exchange, Javier's face suffered lacerations while his chest was
sliced open and his lung was punctured:
Initially, EMS did not rush to
the scene because when the officers put the call over they did not indicate
that there was a pediatric emergency, a source familiar with the incident said.
Instead they used a protocol normally used for drunks... One of the paramedics
had to hold the boys chest wound closed while they rushed him to Jacobi Medical
Center. Medical experts said it may have saved Payne’s life.
His mother says Javier weighs
89 pounds. Javier, who was allegedly shackled to his hospital bed, was
interviewed by NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau.
Lawyer Sanford Rubenstein told
the News, "There is no excuse whatsoever for a police officer to smash a
14-year-old boy’s head through a plate-glass window."
