NEW YORK — Authorities said Wednesday that three homeless men who battled a New York City police officer on a subway platform will face criminal charges after video of the encounter garnered millions of views online.
Two of the men will be charged with riot and obstructing governmental administration, police said, while a third man faces those counts in addition to attempted assault, attempted criminal possession of a weapon and menacing. Two of the three men had been taken into custody Wednesday evening. The third remained at large. Two other men in the video, who appeared to be trying to break up the scuffle, aren’t facing charges.
The charges stem from an incident in which a group of homeless men refused a police officer’s orders to “stand back.”
Footage of the encounter, viewed more than 4.75 million times on social media, showed Officer Syed Ali using a baton and kicking at the men, who appeared to be drunk, as they come at him one at a time Sunday night. Ali, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, never pulled his gun.
One of the homeless men tumbled off the platform in the chaos and had to be pulled from the tracks.
Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Ali’s “extraordinary professionalism and bravery.” He tweeted Tuesday that “attacking our men and women in uniform won’t ever be tolerated.”
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