nyc tasing subway
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  • Bystander video released Wednesday shows a Black man being tased on the NYC subway.
  • NYPD said the man, David Crowell, helped another rider into the subway for free.
  • NYPD bodycam video showed Crowell getting in a confrontation with officers before the tasering.
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Bystander video shows the moment New York Police Department officers surrounded and tased a Black man on the subway for, according to the police, letting another rider into the station for free.

The incident happened on July 6 at the 116th Street station in Harlem, the NYPD tweeted Wednesday.

The man has since been identified as David Crowell, 29.

The NYPD said Crowell got into a confrontation with officers after opening an emergency gate to let another rider into the station, helping the other person bypass the turnstiles to pay.

While the man Crowell let into the station went on to pay for his ride when confronted by officers, Crowell got into a heated exchange with the police, NBC New York reported.

The bystander video shows several officers boarding the train and surrounding Crowell, who proceeds to flail around as a female officer tries to put him in handcuffs.

Then a male officer is seen taking out his Taser and stunning Crowell, who is seen doubling over onto the floor of the subway car as bystanders scream.

Shortly after that video went viral on Wednesday, the NYPD released bodycam footage of the confrontation with Crowell that led up to his arrest.

In the bodycam footage, Crowell is seen yelling at officers and flipping them off.

"You bust that s---, I'm going to run you. I promise you," Crowell is heard saying at one point.

According to Gothamist, Crowell was charged with third-degree menacing, second-degree harassment, resisting arrest, and second-degree obstruction of governmental administration.

None of the charges were in connection to letting the other rider into the station for free, Gothamist reported. The Manhattan District Attorney has declined to prosecute such cases since 2017, the outlet said.

"The charges levied against Mr. Crowell are legally insufficient," Bethany Bonsu, the attorney representing Crowell, said in a statement to Gothamist. "There was no reason for almost 10 NYPD officers to corner Mr. Crowell on the subway and tase him."

Meanwhile, the NYPD union released a statement in defense of the officers' actions.

"Insults alone don't phase [sic] us, but when they cross over into threats of violence, we need to take action," Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said, according to NBC New York. "If this individual felt bold enough to threaten a group of uniformed cops, what is he going to do to those straphangers once the train doors close?"

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York weighed in on the videos Thursday, saying fare evasion is "not acceptable" but that the situation should have been deescalated.

"The goal is to deescalate. Clearly here we did not end up with a deescalated situation. So, this needs to be looked at carefully to see what can be done differently going forward," De Blasio said, according to the New York Post.

The NYPD and New York County Defender Services, which is defending Crowell, did not immediately return Insider's requests for comment.

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