Video footage showed two New York Police Department officers shoving a subway rider out of the station through an emergency exit after the victim allegedly asked the two unmasked officers to wear facial coverings in accordance with the law.
The incident occurred on Tuesday and began when the rider recorded himself approaching two NYPD police officers and asked them to mask up. Another subway rider recorded the incident where the law enforcement personnel pushed the man against an exit door before forcing him out and going back to their stations.
NYPD Police Without Face Masks
The Metropolitan Transportation Authorities (MTA) in New York, which is the agency responsible for the subway system, previously issued guidance in the early days of the pandemic. The guidelines mandated every person, including staff, wear a face mask if they are in an indoor subway station or risk being fined $50. If a person did not have a mask, the MTA said it would provide a complimentary one so they could comply with the law.
The subway rider shoved by the police officers was identified as Andrew Gilbert who said he was on his way to work when he saw the two personnel without face masks. He later approached the two and requested that they comply with the law and put on their mask, Yahoo News reported.
However, Gilbert said that the male officer started "playing dumb" and said that he couldn't hear what he was saying through his face mask. In an interview, the victim said the officer suddenly walked closer, grabbed him, and started pushing him back. The officer allegedly said that if Gilbert was not going to ride the train, he should get out.
After Gilbert was locked out of the exit door, he asked the officers for their badge numbers, but they silently turned away. The video was later uploaded to Twitter and quickly became viral, garnering widespread criticism of police officers who are already under scrutiny across the United States.
No Accountability
"I noticed these two officers standing there on the platform with no masks, as is fairly typical these days for the NYPD. I've taken to filming them whenever I see them doing this in the Subway, so I walked over and asked them why they weren't masked. The male officer kept pretending he couldn't hear what I was saying, he told me 'I can't hear you through your mask,' etc," said 27-year-old Gilbert in a Twitter message, NBC News reported.
Many police officers have received scrutiny for flouting mask mandates in New York City throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The city's public transit and indoor subway stations have continued to require facial coverings since April 2020.
Gilbert, who is from Queens, said his biggest thought was a disappointment, arguing that it was the continued instances of similar incidents that showed how there was no accountability. The resident said that while politicians continue to require face masks, police are never disciplined enough to take the law seriously. On Wednesday, the NYPD said they were conducting an internal review of the incident caught on video, the New York Times reported.
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