Disturbing Video Shows NYPD Ripping 1-Year-Old From His Mother's Arms

A shocking video showing NYPD officers violently removing a woman’s one-year-old child from her arms has sparked outrage across social media.

Nyesha Ferguos posted the video to her Facebook page on Friday. It shows 23-year-old Jazmine Headley clinging to her son, Damone, and telling officers they are hurting him as they attempt to yank the child away from her. One officer waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd, which includes children, several of whom are filming on their cell phones.

Headley had reportedly been waiting four hours at a Brooklyn Human Resources Administration (HRA) office to receive daycare reimbursement. As the office was crowded and there were no seats available, she sat with Damone on the floor. When she refused to stand, security called the police. The situation quickly escalated. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told CBS2 News that “a Taser was used” and that HRA peace officers tried to remove Headley because of what they described as "disorderly conduct towards others and for obstructing the hallway."

Witnesses disputed this account, saying that there was not enough seating and that security was unnecessarily antagonistic. Ferguson, who posted the video, told the New York Times about her experiences at HRA offices, saying “They’re always rude. They think that people that are poor don’t have nothing, so you can treat them any kind of way.”

In this situation, she said, “the police made it way worse.”

Headley was charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and trespassing and taken to Rikers Island. On Tuesday morning Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez dropped those charges and released a statement saying, in part, “It is clear to me that this incident should have been handled differently. An HRA officer escalated the situation as Ms. Headley was about to leave the premises, creating an awful scenario of a baby being torn from his mother."

On Tuesday evening she was released from Rikers Island and reunited with Damone.

Mayor Bill De Blasio told reporters that “We will put in place specific changes to make sure this does not happen again. She posed no threat whatsoever. I watched the video… there was no call for that type of response.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up by the Brooklyn Defenders Service to help get Headley back on her feet following the ordeal and to offset the costs of childcare.