A 22-year-old Chinese man was put in a chokehold and arrested by New York City police Sunday evening for skateboarding in a skateboarding-restricted area.
Yibin Mu, a resident of Queens, posted a video of the arrest on Youtube with the statement:
“Without warning, the police officer used one hand to grab my forearm and the other hand to grab the back of my neck. He then put me in a chokehold and this is what happened next. I was non-aggressive the entire time.”
The video shows the officer’s use of pepper spray on Mu during the arrest. The young man was charged for disorderly conduct, failure to comply with zoning regulations, resisting arrest, and defacing park property, according to Gothamist.
Brian Sessa, an NYPD spokesman and detective, confirmed that Mu was arrested for disregarding six signs prohibiting skateboards in the area on Oct. 25. Sessa stated that according to the officer’s arrest report, Mu “refused to sit down and ignored him. The officer informed him that he was placing him under arrest, and attempted to take him into custody, and the defendant fought with the officer.”
The use of chokeholds by NYPD patrols has been a controversial topic of debate following the death of Staten Island’s Eric Garner last year.
