Unmasked NYPD officers push passenger out of subway station after being asked to cover faces

NYPD says investigation now under internal review

A New York subway passenger was aggressively pushed out of a subway station after asking a police officer put on a mask.

The unmasked officer was caught on video shoving the masked commuter out of Manhattan’s Eighth Street station and accusing them of being “disruptive.”

Andy Gilbert says that he regularly asks NYPD officers to mask up if he seems them flouting the city’s mask rules.

“Is it appropriate for officers to physically assault someone and throw them out of the station for asking them to follow the law? I would say no,” Mr Gilbert told CBS New York.

“I just take my phone out and I’ll, like, you know, politely ask them, ‘Hey, can you just follow the rules like everyone else and wear a mask?’” he said.

“The male officer there basically was playing dumb and pretending he couldn’t hear what I said. You know, he was saying, ‘Oh, I can’t hear you with your mask on.’”

Mr Gilbert says that he repeatedly asked the officers to cover their faces.

“He grabbed me by the collar and just started shoving me out the station,” he added

Video of the incident was posted on Twitter by @toriahall.

In September, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started fining people $50 for anyone not wearing mask in the subway system.

And Mr Gilbert added: “Openly flouting the law, just sort of, it breeds disrespect for the law.”

At the beginning of October the NYPD said that 68 per cent of employees were vaccinated, compared to 76 per cent across the city.

In August NYPD issued a memo to officers saying that they all had to wear a mask “when interacting with members of the public” and while working around “public transport.”

An NYPD spokesperson said the incident is under internal review.