NYPD Officer Stomped On Man's Head "Like A Roach," Says Prosecutor

The trial for an NYPD officer accused of stomping on a man's head during a 2014 arrest in Bedford-Stuyvesant began on Tuesday, with the prosecution comparing the officer's actions to a person indifferently squashing a bug. Officer Joel Edouard's arrest tactic was like a "stomp on a roach that you intend to kill,” prosecutor Marc Fliedner said.

Officer Edouard, 38, allegedly approached 32-year-old Jahmiel Cuffee after he spotted him rolling a joint on a Bed-Stuy street on July 23rd, 2014. Cuffee reportedly showed his ID to Edouard and several other officers, then struggled with them while they attempted to arrest him; the officers wrestled him to the ground before Edouard drew his gun and started stomping on Cuffee's head.

Edouard was assigned to desk duty in July 2014, after video of the violent arrest surfaced on YouTube.

Edouard was initially charged with assault, attempted assault, and official misconduct. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun—who recently dropped manslaughter charges against an NYPD officer convicted of killing an innocent man in a Brooklyn stairwell—dropped Edouard's official misconduct charge last summer.

Cuffee, who was arrested a few days after Eric Garner was choked to death by a police officer on Staten Island, sustained bumps and scrapes. He was initially charged with attempted tampering with evidence, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest—all of which were ultimately dismissed.

The defense countered on Tuesday that Cuffee had resisted arrest, and appeared to be reaching for a gun at the small of his back. "Some think they have a right to drink and smoke weed in public and resist arrest," the defense said. "A civilian is not entitled to resist arrest."

Gary Dormer, who took the video of Cuffee's arrest, testified on Tuesday that he saw Edouard point his gun at Cuffee's face, only to put it down when he "looked me directly in my eyes." Dormer also said that he saw Cuffee and another man pass something between them before the cops approached, and that he only saw Cuffee's head hit the ground once.

Earlier this month, two NYPD officers were charged with assault in connection with the 2015 beating of a postal worker in Queens. The victim, who says he's been targeted by the NYPD since he unwittingly gave directions to a cop killer, has since filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city.