Shocking video shows New York police officer verbally abuse Uber driver
A shocking video has emerged showing a New York police officer launch a xenophobic tirade against an Uber driver in Manhattan. In the video, the plain-clothes police officer goes up to Uber driver, Humayan, and screams at him through the car window. "Stop it with your mouth, stop it with your, 'For what, sir?' You understand me? I don't know what planet you think you're on right now."
At this point the officer violently slams the car door and walks off. The driver turns around and apologises to the passengers as they inform him that they are recording the entire exchange on their phone.
The officer then returns to the car and begins a stream of xenophobic remarks. "I don't know where you're coming from or where you think you're appropriate in doing that. That's not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?"
Passenger Sanjay Seth recorded the moment on his phone, before posting it online. He explains below the video how the confrontation broke out:
"In an unmarked car, the policeman was allegedly attempting to park without using his blinker at a green light. (His reverse lights weren't on. Likely double parked without hazards on.) The Uber driver pulled around and gestured that he should use his blinker, casually and non-offensively, and kept driving us. The policeman quickly pulls up behind us and this is what happens".
Uber has called the behavior in the video "wrong" and "unacceptable". The New York Police Department has confirmed that the plain-clothed man in the video is a NYPD officer and that the incident is now under review.
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