You can’t tell me when to wear my mask’: Subway rider rattled by encounter with NYPD officer in Queens station

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‘You can’t tell me when to wear my mask’: Subway rider rattled by encounter with NYPD officer in Queens station
QUEENS
by: Aliza Chasan
Posted: Aug 30, 2021 / 06:47 PM EDT / Updated: Aug 30, 2021 / 06:50 PM EDT

(Alex Fermin)


ASTORIA, Queens — A subway rider was so shaken by an encounter with a maskless NYPD officer that he went home instead of heading to work.
Alex Fermin, 23, was in the 46th Street station in Astoria on Saturday morning when he spotted two officers with their masks pulled down around their chins. He snapped a picture, then walked away. Fermin said he’d previously been slammed to the ground by police during protests after the death of George Floyd, so he was concerned about interacting further with the officers.
He heard the officers calling out, but Fermin hoped they were trying to get someone else’s attention.

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“In June the NYPD arrested me from behind without any warning,” he said. “I was just terrified. Are they following me? Are they right behind me? Are they close?”
Fermin said that’s when the officers got in his face.
“I realize he wasn’t going to just let me be,” Fermin said.
Under NYPD guidelines, all officers are required to wear face coverings when interacting with members of the public, regardless of vaccination status.

Fermin, who started filming, posted video to Twitter that shows the officer talking to him without his face covered.
“You can’t tell me when to wear my mask,” the officer said in the video.
He pointed to his shield number and told Fermin to talk to the city and the mayor about it. The officer insisted, again, that Fermin couldn’t tell him when to wear a mask.
“You know what the problem is with you guys? Because America is so free,” the officer said. “That’s the problem.”
Fermin’s video shows the officers walk away after that.
Even though he feels uncomfortable over the encounter, Fermin said he’d do it again.
“I felt like it was still the right thing to do. I would still do it today,” he said. “If it’s within our legal rights to do so, I want to do so.”
Fermin, who’s had family impacted by COVID, posted the video to Twitter because he didn’t feel there was anything to be gained by making a formal complaint. He said he’s done that before without getting results.
“The only way I could get some kind of justice or healing was to share it,” he said.
Mask-wearing is an MTA regulation, but an agency spokesperson declined to comment on Fermin’s video. He directed PIX11 to the NYPD. The NYPD has not yet responded to a PIX11 request for comment.

 

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Alex Fermin

@alex_fermin_
·
Aug 28

Here’s the photo. I’m still experiencing PTSD from prior NYPD violence, which was triggered so now I’m just shaking and trying to calm my racing heart. Can’t even go to work anymore, I feel practically sick. It was scary as hell but hey at least nothing will be done about it

 

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NYPD officer: Fellow cops arrested me without cause
By
Tina Moore
May 28, 2018 10:06pm
Updated

Karim PowellTomas E. Gaston
MORE ON:NYPD

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An NYPD officer wants $5 million for emotional anguish after two cops pulled over his car and arrested him without cause, according to Manhattan court documents.
The incident occurred in March 2017, while Officer Karim Powell was off-duty and in his own vehicle, says the notice of claim, which is the step before a formal lawsuit.
The two cops allegedly claimed that Powell had led them on a car chase right before they pulled him over in the Bronx.
One of the officers got out of his patrol car and, “He came up, and he said ‘turn around’ and placed me in cuffs,” Powell told The Post.
“I said, ‘I’m on the job.’ His reply was, ‘What job?’ and I said, ‘Same job as you.’ ”
Powell, 32, said he showed the cop his badge, to no avail.
“I took my ID out, and [the cop] said, ‘I can’t see it.’ I took it out of my wallet and gave it to him,” Powell said. “He took the keys off the roof and said, ‘F–k that s–t.’ He went back to the [patrol car], and he was on the cellphone.
“I was standing there for 10 to 15 minutes before a patrol supervisor arrived,” the Bronx resident said. “The only thing I remember thinking of [the cursing cop] was, ‘That guy’s nasty.’ They placed me in his car. A sergeant told the officer to remove the cuffs.”
Powell’s service weapon and ID were taken, and he was transported to the 47th Precinct, where he called his PBA delegate, who told him the other officers were claiming that Powell had led them on a chase, he said.
“When the delegate came, he asked me, ‘Why were these guys chasing you?’ I said, ‘Chasing me?’ and he said, ‘Yes, they said they were chasing you,’ ” Powell said.
Powell “told the PBA delegate the officers are ‘lying’ and the GPS data from their assigned marked [patrol car] will prove it,” according to the notice of claim.
The document noted that “one of the unnamed officers knew Powell from a prior interaction regarding a parked vehicle.”
Powell was put on modified duty for more than a year after an investigation was conducted, and he was charged with “failure to show ID,” the papers said.
He finally was restored to full duty April 11.
“I’ve been accused of something I haven’t done. It’s really unfair,” said the five-year veteran, who works at the 114th Precinct in Queens. “They were nasty. They didn’t do their job right.”
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In an e-mailed statement to the Post, NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said, “There is no arrest on file for NYPD Police Officer Karim Powell.”

 

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Karim A. Powell
Police Officer
ASSOCIATED SHIELD #
15735
LAST KNOWN COMMAND
34th Precinct
CURRENT COUNTY
Queens
STARTED
July 11, 2012
Rank
FY2013
Police Officer

Pay
YEAR
SALARY
REGULAR HOURS
GROSS PAY
OTHER PAY
OVERTIME
OVERTIME HOURS
LEAVE STATUS
FY2018
$85,292
2,046 hrs
$72,912
$16,026
$55
1 hrs
Active
FY2017
$63,125
2,051 hrs
$68,691
$8,886
$5,097
58 hrs
Active
FY2016
$54,341
2,091 hrs
$53,969
$8,146
$4,992
103 hrs
Active
FY2015
$48,779
2,086 hrs
$45,691
$7,102
$9,417
206 hrs
Active
FY2014
$43,644
2,086 hrs
$42,569
$6,846
$4,787
185 hrs
Active
FY2013
$41,975
2,006 hrs
$39,100
$2,942
$1,874
76 hrs
Active
Hide pay history

Other Known Lawsuits


Outcomes
Garay v. City Of New York, et al., 2014
$25,000
Colon v. City Of New York, et al., 2013
$20,000


Related Officers (Listed together in lawsuits)

• Anthony M. Tortora (Listed together on 1 lawsuit)

News Articles

• NYPD officer: Fellow cops arrested me without cause
  New York Post, May 28, 2018

Anything inaccurate? Please let us know.

 

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Very inappropriate’: NYPD commissioner reacts to video of maskless cop confrontation
LOCAL NEWS
by: Mark Sundstrom, Aliza Chasan, Dan Mannarino
Posted: Sep 1, 2021 / 10:20 AM EDT / Updated: Sep 1, 2021 / 10:20 AM EDT

'Very inappropriate': NYPD commissioner reacts to maskless cop confrontation video

NEW YORK — NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea responded on Wednesday to a viral social media video of a tense interaction between a maskless NYPD officer and a subway rider in Queens last weekend. …

pix11.com

NEW YORK — NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea responded on Wednesday to a viral social media video of a tense interaction between a maskless NYPD officer and a subway rider in Queens last weekend.
“I saw that video,” Shea said in an interview with the PIX11 Morning News. “I thought it was very inappropriate, on the side of the officer…We’ve gotta be better than that,” he added.
As far as possible discipline for the officer in the video, Shea vowed the department would “take care of that,” and said he had already spoken to Chief of Department Rodney Harrison about it.



Subway rider Alex Fermin, 23, was was in the 46th Street station in Astoria on Saturday morning when he spotted two officers with their masks pulled down around their chins He told PIX11 he snapped a picture, then walked away.
He then heard the officers calling out to him, before getting in his face.
Fermin filmed part of the interaction and posted the video to Twitter, which shows the officer talking to him up close, still without his face covered.
“You can’t tell me when to wear my mask,” the officer said in the video before telling Fermin to talk to the city and the mayor about it.

Under NYPD guidelines, all officers are required to wear face coverings when interacting with members of the public, regardless of vaccination status.
“There is an expectation,” the police commissioner said Wednesday. “If you’re not wearing a mask when you should, you have to be held accountable, and we’ll take care of that.”
Shea would not go into detail about what kind of disciplinary action might be taken in this or similar situations.
While vaccinated officers on the job are allowed to be maskless when not interacting with the public, vaccine hesitancy has been an issue within the department.
Less than half of uniformed and civilian personnel in the NYPD are vaccinated, according to recent data.
“We know that we’ve been struggling on the vaccination front. That should be cleared up by mid September, because that’s going to be mandatory,” Shea said, referencing the NYPD’s new policy instructing officers to either get the vaccine or mask up at all times while on duty.
Shea also spoke to PIX11 about the ongoing gun violence plaguing the city, mentioning that he believes August shootings were down 30% from August 2020.
The commissioner also spoke on meetings and preparations for security and safety ahead of September 11, which will be twenty years since the terrorist attacks.