The mother of the bystander punched by an NYPD cop in a viral video says her son is hospitalized with serious injuries from the encounter.
“The doctor said he’s in pretty bad shape," Donna Wright said of her 32-year-old son, Donni Wright. “The officer really did physical damage to my son. He is not able to lift or sit.”
Donna Wright, who lives in North Carolina with her daughter, is coming to New York to see her son, who she is concerned could catch coronavirus in the hospital.
The Manhattan District Attorney announced Monday it was deferring prosecutions against Wright and the other two suspects arrested during the incident.
“You see a number of people not wearing masks at that scene,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday. “And that is the scene that the officers in plainclothes...initially walked up to investigate.”
As the crowd thinned, cops spotted a bag of marijuana and moved in on Shakiem Brunson, 31, who was sitting on a milk crate and refusing to disperse, police say.
Brunson’s girlfriend, Ashley Serrano, 22, interfered with the arrest and was slapped into cuffs herself. Authorities said Monday they recovered a Taser, $3,000 cash and the bag of marijuana.
Donna Wright, 59, says her son, a NYCHA caretaker, was on his way to the store when he saw Brunson and Serrano, a family friend, being arrested.
Authorities say the incident began when plainclothes cops on patrol in the East Village told a crowd at E. 9th St. and Avenue D to disperse as part of the city’s social distancing crackdown during the pandemic.
Wright spoke up in their defense and, according to police, “took a fighting stance.”
Officer Francisco Garcia came at Wright, pointing his Taser.
“Move the f--k back right now," Garcia told Wright, the video shows. "Don’t flex.”
“We’re talking about someone sitting on your shoulder and punching your ribs and sitting on your shoulders and your head for a good three to four minutes, heavy weight bouncing,” Donna Wright, 59, said.
A friend alerted her to the video and she says she collapsed when she watched it.
“My whole body got chills,” the mother said. “I literally fell, because I right away recognized my son. It was just horrific. It was just a chilling feeling to see someone just take pure advantage, someone that is supposed to be securing and protecting us.”
“I’m not one to bash cops,” she added. “I don’t even like to hear people say it because I always feel like they’re doing a job. But at that point, I said ‘My God, my God.' It was just an awful feeling to see that. I know it happens to people but to know that it happened to my child...”