NYPD Sergeant Charged In Connection With Violent UWS Arrest: DA

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A New York Police Department sergeant was charged Thursday with assault and attempted assault for two violent arrests, including one that happened at an Upper West Side train station in April 2020 when the District Attorney's office said he knelt on the back of a handcuffed man who yelled: "I can't breathe."

Sergeant Phillip Wong, 37, an officer with over 15 years of experience, was charged in New York State Supreme Court with one count third-degree assault and one count of third-degree attempted assault, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced.

The attempted assault charge stems from an incident on April 29, 2020, when Wong was observing officers under his supervision arrest a man at the West 96th Street and Broadway station for punching another passenger.

As the NYPD officers led the man out of the station, he yelled anti-Asian slurs at Wong and kicked him in the leg, according to the DA. Wong and another officer quickly tackled the man to the ground with his arms handcuffed behind his back and knelt on his back.

A spokesperson from the DA's office said the man continued to taunt Wong, and then shouted — "I can't breathe!"

"I don't give a f*** if you can breathe or not," Wong responded, according to the DA's office.

Wong proceeded to punch the man in the side of the face and placed both of his knees on the man's back, before bouncing up and down multiple times, the spokesperson from the DA's office said.

The man was taken to the hospital, where staff determined he had no physical injuries.

"When NYPD officers head into the field each day to face unknown and potentially life-threatening situations, they do one of the most difficult jobs in the world,” District Attorney Cy Vance said in a news release. “But having sworn an oath to protect and serve their communities, those difficult jobs need to be carried out with the utmost integrity and professionalism, especially by officers in leadership.

As alleged, this Sergeant grossly violated his training – and the law – during the arrests of these two individuals, whose conduct did not justify these violent responses."

While Wong was only charged with attempted assault for the incident on the Upper West Side, the NYPD officer was also charged with assault Thursday in connection with a different incident that dates back to 2019 when he punched a man in the face within the West 145th Street police precinct, according to the DA.

Wong had just been part of a group of officers who had closed the cell door on a handcuffed man, when the man kicked the door and began spitting on them. Wong then pushed back through a group of officers, reopened the door, and punched the man in the face, according to the DA.

An NYPD spokesperson told Patch that Wong has been suspended without pay.