BOERUM HILL — The New York Police Department opened an internal investigation after video showed two narcotics officers punching and kicking a man during an arrest on April 14, 2026, at BK Wine Depot on Hoyt and Baltic streets in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. The Internal Affairs Bureau is conducting the review, and the two officers have been placed on modified duty with their guns and shields removed, the police department said.

Officers were engaged in a planned and supervised undercover operation related to complaints about drug sales in the area. During the operation, an officer purchased crack cocaine from someone, and payment for the drugs was provided to an associate, police said. Police described the associate as a Black male wearing a white shirt and green shorts. Officers observed a man matching that description across the street, approached him, identified themselves as New York police, and attempted to arrest him inside the store.

Authorities initially believed the man shown in the video was a suspect in the drug deal but later determined he was not. The man was not charged with drug possession after being taken into custody.

A witness posted video of the arrest on social media Tuesday showing officers tackling a bloodied man to the floor inside the store and holding him down. The nearly eight-minute video shows a man wearing a white shirt, teal shorts and a bucket hat held against a cabinet by two men — one wearing an NYPD vest and another in a black shirt and jeans without police identification. The officer in the vest punches the man in the face. The man is then held against a glass wall, hitting his face against it while struggling with the officers. The man in the black shirt, who identifies himself in the video as a detective, repeatedly punches the man in the teal shorts and jabs his knee into his chest, causing him to fall into a rack of wine bottles before hitting the floor. Both officers then drag the man toward the door, where he rolls onto his stomach as instructed. An unidentified person can be heard in the video saying, "He wasn't resisting. He was not resisting arrest."

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani shared the video Wednesday on X, linking to footage posted by NYPD veteran and streamer Sal Greco. "The violence used by NYPD officers in this video is extremely disturbing and unacceptable. Officers should never treat a person this way," Mamdani said, adding that a full investigation was being launched.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she had been briefed on the incident. "I understand the community interest in it because it is an upsetting video," Tisch said. "We'll have more to say about it as that investigation unfolds," she added.