The Rev. Al Sharpton took great offense to an NYPD police sergeant who allegedly threw a hand-cuffed, 14-year-old boy through a plate-glass window.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Sharpton said at the National Action Network’s headquarters in Harlem. “We cannot have a city where policemen come and shove handcuffed children through windowpanes.”
Javier Payne, the alleged victim, sat in a wheelchair beside Sharpton during the press conference with a white bandage across his forehead.
During the press conference, the teen lifted his T-shirt to reveal a gash in his left side — a gash that required 50 staples to close.
“This is unbelievable,” Sharpton said. “This is because he talked smart to a cop.”
Javier, who weighs 98 pounds, and a 13-year-old friend were arrested May 17 in the Belmont section of the Bronx after allegedly assaulting a 39-year-old man they had asked for a cigarette.
After being handcuffed, Javier apparently began mouthing off to 48th Precinct’s Sgt. Eliezer Pabon, sources said.
“I don’t care what he said. A police trained does not shove a handcuffed child. If you are so agitated that you can shove a handcuffed child out of anger, you ought not be on the police department,” Sharpton said.
A surveillance video captured Pabon — who was stripped of his badge and gun Friday — shoving Javier from behind through the window of the Hookah Spot on Arthur Ave.
Although Edward Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said he has yet to see the video, he denies Pabon shoved or pushed the boy into the window. He also said the window was already damaged before it shattered.
“There was a hole with a spider web of cracks around the hole,” Mullins told The Daily News. “It wasn’t structurally sound. The sergeant is going to fully defended and the truth will come out.”
Sharpton said the brutal attack was inexcusable and said the family wasn’t making excuses for Javier’s alleged behavior.
“If he and his friend had done anything that was out of order they should be dealt with and litigated by law — not brutalized based on anger and lack of training,” said his sister, Christina Payne.
The eighth-grader underwent emergency surgery at Jacobi Medical Center and was in intensive care for four days.
“This is a difficult time,” said Christina. “I’m very upset and I just want justice for my brother, for these cops to be brought to justice.”
Image via Wikimedia Commons
