An assailant struck a New York police detective in the head with a plastic stick Monday in an unprovoked attack, according to viral video of the encounter.
The attack occurred while the distracted detective was investigating a robbery around 11:50 a.m. on Prince Street, the New York Post reported.
The New York City Police Department Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) shared footage of the incident on Twitter Monday, mocking the state of crime in the city.
“Welcome to NYC!” they wrote. “Even as our Detectives investigate crimes they’re attacked by emboldened criminals, who have quickly realized there are no consequences for law breakers in our city.”
“The DEA is calling for this violence to be fully prosecuted as we look to file civil charges,” the post read.
The footage of the incident shows the detective facing a storefront with shattered glass on the ground. As he is writing notes on a clipboard, the male attacker walks up behind him carrying two plastic sticks and hits him in the head with one of them before quickly backing away.
The wounded detective grabs his head and bends over as the attacker continues slowly retreating while watching his victim. Additional police are seen pursuing the suspect, who turns and runs away.
According to the Post, the detective sustained a whip mark and laceration in his head as a result of the apparently random assault.
DEA President Paul DiGiacomo took it a step further, explicitly blaming elected officials for the increase in bold attacks on law enforcement.
“Once again, New Yorkers witness just how emboldened violent criminals are as a detective in uniform is attacked in Queens today,” he wrote.
“If there’s anyone wondering why this happened, they can ask their elected officials who have created a city of no consequences for criminality,” DiGiacomo continued. “The city is circling the drain and NYPD cops are the only ones trying to help the public swim to safety. The individual needs to be fully prosecuted as the DEA explores civil action.”
The Post reported that the officers pursued the suspect until they arrested him on 39th Avenue. He was later identified as Akeele Morgan, 25, police said.
Morgan was charged with resisting arrest, assault, disorderly conduct and criminal possession of a weapon. No motive for the assault has been released.
The attack comes as a time when law enforcement across the United States continue to be the subject of condemnation, regardless of the circumstances. Last week, NBA star LeBron James tweeted a picture of an officer involved in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who charged at another girl with a knife. The officer is being credited with helping save the other girl’s life.
