NYPD Officer Slams Pregnant Woman To The Ground In Video, Sandra Amezquita Allegedly ‘Bleeding’ After Incident

An NYPD officer was filmed slamming a pregnant woman to the ground, belly first, early Saturday morning in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The video shows a clearly pregnant woman, identified as 44-year-old Sandra Amezquita by the New York Daily News, being thrown to the ground by a police officer before the officer presses into her back with his knee and handcuffs her. Amezquita reportedly suffered vaginal bleeding after the incident, which took place around 2:15 a.m.

“The first thing I thought was they killed my baby and they’re going to kill my wife,” the baby’s father, 50-year-old Ronel Lemos, told the New York Daily News Tuesday. Amezquita added that she was “afraid” something had happened to the baby. Her arm and stomach were bruised during the arrest.

Amezquita and Lemos said they approached the scene where police officers were arresting their 17-year-old son, Jhohan, for criminal possession of a knife, according to Gawker. Amezquita was cited for disorderly conduct, and Lemos was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer after he reportedly hit the officer who was handcuffing his son.

"What we see is a woman who's trying to protect her son, who is being stopped and frisked by police, and she became a victim. Slammed onto the floor," Dennis Flores, founder of El Grito de Sunset Park, an advocacy group that exposes incidents of police brutality, told WABC-TV New York. "Her belly is now with black and blue bruises. She's bleeding and she's having complications."

This is the second incident involving a police officer from the 72nd Precinct striking a civilian. The first involved an officer who was filmed kicking a street vendor. The officer has been suspended and is under investigation, according to ABC 7.