A black Pennsylvania cop is going viral after he was snapped smacking a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally against police brutality.
The officer was captured confronting the protester as chaos broke out between his colleagues and protesters at Saturday’s rally in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg, the Pittsburgh City Paper reported.
Footage caught the handful of protesters screaming at officers who declared it an unlawful assembly, the outlet reported.
Video then showed officers trying to apprehend a woman backing away and shouting obscenities, as a black dress-wearing protester pushed and grabbed at them.
The officer then hit the protester, who was intervening with a left hook, as seen in a wild, now-viral photo by City Paper snapper Jared Wickerham.
Video of the melee also showed a muzzled police K9 being kept back from the downed protester, who screamed, “You’re a f–king pig!”
Wilkinsburg Police Department has yet to comment on the altercation or take any action against the officer.
The officer was captured confronting the protester after the gathering was declared an unlawful assembly.
The protester — identified by City Paper as Vuestro Merced — stumbled while led away in cuffs, complaining throughout.
One hysterical-sounding woman screamed at the arresting officers — both of who were black — that “this is what people do to fight for black people, and this is what these pigs do in the street.”
A local activist later shared a photo of Merced to show they were “out and safe” — and also asking for donations. It was not immediately clear what charges had been filed, if any.
Wickerham, the local photog, shared a series of videos earlier in the small rally, which was to demand justice for Jim Rogers, a 54-year-old black man who died in October 2021, less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh Police officers tased him eight times.
The clips showed them marching through the middle of the street carrying a giant Black Lives Matter banner, chanting and “one solution: revolution,” as well as “Pittsburgh Police — enemies of the people.”
It also showed them repeatedly screaming “f–k you!” at an officer who first calmly told them they were “not doing this in the middle of the street.”
“Yes we f–king are!” one of the protesters screamed back, before a mom and daughter were arrested along Merced, the local paper said.
Wilkinsburg Police Department did not comment on the punch or arrest to any of the local media, nor return calls from The Post on Tuesday.
The rally organizers, “Justice for Jim Rogers,” told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that the caught-on-camera scenes showed “clearly that those who wield violence are the police.”
“We will continue to care for one another and fight for Justice for Jim Rogers and for all victims of police brutality and anti-black violence,” the group said.
Five Pittsburgh police officers were fired in March over Rogers’ death, which a coroner classified as accidental and resulting from a lack of oxygen to the brain after he was shocked multiple times.
Three other officers who had initially been suspended with pay were allowed to return to their jobs.
* story by The New York Post
