Last week, Glenn Grays, a mailman working in his truck on President Street in Crown Heights, yelled out his window at an unmarked police car that had almost nicked his truck. As Grays walked away to deliver a package, four plainclothes officers streamed out of the car and approached him. In a video of their interaction, revealed on Tuesday, the officers proceed to cuff and cart away the basically compliant postal worker.
Grays’s only act of resistance was trying to keep his arms taut as the officers attempted to place the cuffs on his wrists. “Stop resisting!” one officer yells as he grabs his hands. “You’re going to get hurt if you don’t give me your fucking hands,” yelled another officer. The squad then packed Grays into their car and took him to the 71st Precinct to issue him a summons.
Brooklyn borough president (and former police officer) Eric Adams got involved on Tuesday, saying, “If they would do that to him in his postal uniform, they would do it to any person of color in that community,” and noted that the cops may face federal violations for leaving Grays’s mail truck unsecured. (Arresting an on-duty federal employee requires adherence to well-defined procedures that were not followed here.) The NYPD says it’s investigating the incident.
