Nicholas Scalzo has been suspended without pay.
A policeman in New York has been suspended after a video showed him punching a 14-year-old girl in the head after a school fight on Staten Island. According to New York Post, the officer - identified as Nicholas Scalzo - has been suspended without pay and the incident has been strongly criticised by Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor later said at a public function that he was "not pleased with what I saw on the video", the outlet further said in its report.
The now viral video shows Scalzo hitting the teenager as he and another officer tried to break up the school fight. The officer keeps pushing the 14-year-old by a barrage of blows on the head. Other students are seen trying to intervene to pull the teenager away, but their efforts go in vain.
The incident took place at 2.45am on Tuesday, the Post report said. Speaking about it, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Post, ""There was a fight between two girls. We tried to intervene and it looks like one of the girls tried to stop us from intervening."
"They tried to handcuff one of the girls. And someone was pulling at them," the spokesperson further said.
The girl Kyonna Robinson later spoke to New York Post and said, "I jumped in and the cops came and were supposed to be breaking it up, but the cops got into the fight. Then everyone was just in handcuffs and my sister was in handcuffs."
"I went up to my sister and asked the cops, 'What are you doing?' and he pushed me and then I hit him two times and he hit me 11 times," the 14-year-old added.
The two girls, aged 12 and 14, were arrested and later released without criminal charges.