The NYPD is investigating what appears to be two police officers fighting each other on a Harlem street. But maybe it's just two tricksters cosplaying as cops, knocking bodies next to a counterfeit patrol SUV, surrounded by other guys who are also dressed up as cops, for kicks?
"We have to call up to the Harlem office and see if this is legit or if is just people dressed up as cops," a spokesperson for the NYPD told Gothamist on Tuesday. "It is under investigation."
The probe into what sure looks like a cop fight was prompted by a video published to YouTube on Monday, which shows two men in uniform shoving each other on Malcolm X Boulevard and 116th Street.
"This is what I come up on in NYC. Two New York’s Finest cops are fighting each other. Pathetic White Guys. This is such and embarrassment to the department," wrote the uploader.
A separate spokesperson for the police department confirmed to Gothamist that the NYPD is investigating the scuffle. Neither spokesperson could say when the incident took place, or if the police officers would face discipline—assuming, again, that they are actually law enforcement officers, and not just guys who dress up as cops and jostle each other in public for the fun of it.
In other recent cop-on-cop violence, Detective James Dawson was transferred out of a Brooklyn precinct last month after he allegedly pressed his tricep against a fellow detective and told him "Your days are over, bro." (The alleged precipitating offense: turning the volume down on the stationhouse television when President Donald Trump came on).
There's also a rich history of men believed to be cops brawling with men believed to be firefighters—though in most cases they usually are cosplaying as athletes, so again, it's hard to know.
