Crowd erupts when cop beats handcuffed boy in New York

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The cell phone video of Eric Garner may not have resulted in a trial for the police officers who choked him to death, but New Yorkers are still recording incidents of police using over-the-top force against African Americans.

In a recent video recorded by an onlooker on the streets of New York City, several large uniformed cops have a young African-American boy subdued and pinned against a car, when a white plainclothes police officer runs up and throws several punches at the immobilized boy.

The video clearly shows that there is no reason or justification for this, and the bystanders erupt in horror, particularly one outspoken woman.

"He's 12!" she shouts. "Why would you do that? After everything that's happened! I'm a lawyer, I'm writing all this down."

"Stop it, get off of him!" yells another.

"You guys...need a different profession. Go to war, this is not a war, this is a 12-year-old kid!" says a woman standing on the sidewalk facing the officers, who do not respond to her. Another boy is pinned by other officers against another car. He cries out as the officers yank his hands behind his back.

The woman who captured the video is actually actress Sarah Donegy. On the YouTube page where the video was posted, she explained that the incident started when officers accused the two boys being arrested for pushing a classmate down. Donegy said the victim was questioned and that the boys being arrested were not the ones who pushed him.

This and other videos being shot around New York City signal that residents, particularly African Americans, have reached a point where they will not allow brutal arrests to go undocumented and unprotested. This is just one of the ways people are fighting back.

The NYPD has engaged its Internal Affairs unit to investigate the officer caught throwing the punches. While the onlookers claim the boy being beaten was 12 years old, the police say he is 16.

Watch the video of the incident:

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