A shaky sidewalk video racing across social media this week appears to show Manhattan police officers repeatedly striking a Black man who is already handcuffed on a Flatiron District block. In the clip, the man is face down, shirtless and barefoot as several officers hold him on the pavement and a bystander begs them to stop. The short burst of footage has quickly reignited a familiar New York fight over how officers use force on people in apparent crisis.
The clip was posted March 24 on X by @LongTimeHistory and was soon ricocheting across multiple platforms. Other users reposted and stitched the video, fueling sharp criticism and racking up thousands of views in a matter of hours.
What the video shows
As reported by Inquisitr, the footage appears to show at least three officers punching or kneeling on the restrained man while another officer presses a foot near his legs and one pushes his head down. Near the end of the clip, officers appear to pull a bag over the man’s head while a woman attempts to step in and other onlookers record the confrontation.
Mental-health response and city policy
The video quickly drew comparisons to past high profile police encounters and reopened debate over who should respond when someone is clearly in distress. In 2025 New York lawmakers required agencies to swap the term “emotionally disturbed person” for person first language such as “person experiencing an emotional crisis,” according to the New York State Senate. The city has been expanding its health centered B HEARD teams to take many 911 mental health calls, but a comptroller audit found the program still misses a sizable share of eligible calls, according to the NYC Comptroller.
Oversight and next steps
NYPD policy sorts uses of force into categories and routes serious incidents to internal review units. The department’s public use of force reports describe how Internal Affairs and the Force Investigation Division are tasked with examining such encounters, according to the NYPD. An independent watchdog, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, also investigates claims of excessive force and takes complaints online, by phone or in person, according to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Advocates say they are watching to see whether either body formally opens a case on the Flatiron incident…