Officer caught in xenophobic rant toward Uber driver is NYPD employee: police sources (WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE IN VIDEO)
BY JASON SILVERSTEIN , THOMAS TRACY , JOSEPH STEPANSKY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 4:46 AM Updated: Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 2:24 AM A A A
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A man who was caught on camera cursing out an Uber driver during a bias-filled three-minute tirade in the West Village is an NYPD detective in the joint terrorism task force, police sources confirmed Tuesday.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating the video, which shows the Uber driver being subjected to a xenophobic rant by the detective, Patrick Cherry.
“I don't know where you're coming from, where you think you're appropriate in doing that; that's not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?” Cherry, who is white, hollered at the driver after pulling him over in an unmarked car with flashing lights, according to video of the encounter.
The roadside rage erupted after the detective tried to park the unmarked car without using his blinker, and the Uber driver went around him and gestured to him to use his signal, according to Sanjay Seth, a passenger in the Uber car who posted the video clip.
The detective’s car in the video does not belong to the department, according to a police source.
The man who yelled at an Uber driver and mocked him is an NYPD employee, police sources said.
SANJAY SETH/VIA YOUTUBE
The man who yelled at an Uber driver and mocked him is an NYPD employee, police sources said.
Moments before slamming the car door and storming away, the hot-headed Cherry, who is stationed in Federal Plaza in Manhattan, shouted at the driver: “I don't know what (edit) planet you're on right now!”
The detective repeatedly mocked the mild-mannered driver's accent and broken English, cursing at him. The driver simply responded by saying “okay” during one point in the man's tirade, the video shows. The driver's ethnicity was not immediately clear.
The driver filed a complaint with police, which prompted the NYPD to assign the case to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
“IAB will look at the circumstances and determine if a duty status change is required," a high-ranking police source said.
The incident may be handed to the Civilian Complaint Review Board if it is determined that the detective committed no other wrongdoing besides the discourtesy, the sources said.
Seth wrote on the video's YouTube page that the incident happened in the West Village.
Cherry was on his way to work after visiting Detective Harry Hill at NYU Langone Medical Center when the interaction occurred, a police source said. Hill is in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest during a procedure on his elbow on Thursday, the source said.
President of the Detectives Endowment Association Michael Palladino said emotions have been running high in the task force in recent days.
"The past five days have been emotionally draining for the members of the JTTF dealing with their fellow detective's health. Despite what some people think, cops have feelings too," Palladino said.
An Uber spokesman, Matt Wing, confirmed the driver filed a complaint, but said he was not issued a ticket. Wing declined to name the driver.
Two passengers in the backseat assure the driver during the video that he did nothing wrong and say the man who pulled him over is going on a "power trip."
SANJAY SETH
Two passengers in the backseat assure the driver during the video that he did nothing wrong and say the man who pulled him over is going on a "power trip."
According to the video, during the brief moments when the detective backed off his harangue, Seth and a fellow passenger assured the driver he did nothing wrong.
"It's not your fault; this guy's just a (edit)," one of passengers says on the video, adding that the man was on a "power trip."
The shell-shocked driver kept offering apologies, but the man did not stop browbeating him.
"You don't let me (edit) finish! Stop interrupting me!" the man tells him.
At the end of the three-minute tirade, the man tells the driver the only reason he's not getting arrested is because he's "not important enough."
Seth posted the video to his Facebook page Monday afternoon, identifying the driver as "Humayun" and titling the clip, "Police Abuse of Uber Driver in New York City."
"Our Uber driver, Humayun, was abused by a police officer today in New York," Seth wrote. "The unending rage, door slamming, throwing items into the car, threatening arrest without cause was bad enough — but the officer's remarks at the end really took it to another level."
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