An off-duty New York Police Department officer was brutally beaten by a group of teenagers on his way to work after identifying himself as a police officer, according to authorities.
Officer Cagney Ramos, 33, had just exited the Long Island Rail Road at Penn Station early Saturday morning on his way to work when a group of teenagers began harassing him. He then identified himself as a police officer and was punched, kicked to the ground, and spat on, according to New York Daily News.
Ramos was taken by medics to a nearby hospital with minor injuries and deep cuts to his face and arm.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department is investigating, and no arrests have been made.
Last month, NYPD officers were attacked on the Brooklyn Bridge when they attempted to control two opposing demonstrations regarding local law enforcement.
Police retirements have been surging in the past few months following the civil unrest that has resulted from the death of George Floyd on May 25. Police say the growing anti-police rhetoric in the city is a big reason for the departures.
“Everyone has turned their backs on us. From the media, to politicians, to some of our own. Sad to see decades of hard work and many sacrifices (many were officers’ lives) be washed away. The media hasn’t helped. They irresponsibly portray a department that’s out of control. We know that’s not true,” Deputy Inspector Richard Brea said in June before retiring from the police department.
Crime has been surging in the nation’s largest city, with shootings rising 72% this year compared to 2019, and the number of shooting victims increasing by 80%.
Wealthy areas of the city haven’t been immune to the crime spike. Robberies, many of them armed, are up 286% in Manhattan’s ritzy Upper East Side.
*story by The Washington Examiner