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Victim in Videotaped Police Beating Speaks Out

Ehud Halevy, the Jewish man whose beating at the hands of two New York City police officers earlier this month was captured on videotape, reportedly called the cops’ actions “irresponsible and not ethical.”

Halevy spoke with the New York Times recently about the October 8 incident inside a youth center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Halevy told the Times that Officer Luis A. Vega, “told me to leave,” and “I told him I had a right and permission to stay where I am. He wouldn’t listen. I swore at him. He tried handcuffing me. I pulled my hand away, and then he started beating me up.”

Halevy was pepper sprayed and punched numerous times in the head and body. After having watched the video, Halevy described the officers’ actions as, “irresponsible and not ethical.”

Halevy had been given permission to sleep inside the Aliya center, but police were called when a security guard found Halevy shirtless on a couch in the facility.

On Wednesday, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office formally dismissed all charges against Halevy for assaulting a police officer.

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