Despite violent arrest, NYPD to maintain distancing patrols

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s mayor rejected calls Monday to stop having police officers enforce social distancing during the coronavirus crisis after one was caught on video pulling a stun gun on a man and violently taking him to the ground, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo laid out criteria for reopening the state's economy region by region.

In coronavirus-related developments: ___

VIOLENT CONFRONTATION

Mayor Bill de Blasio called Saturday’s confrontation in Manhattan’s East Village “very troubling” and “absolutely unacceptable” but contended it was an outlier among “tens of thousands of interactions between police officers and civilians over the last weeks that went very well.”

The officer was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty pending an internal investigation.

The police department assigned 1,000 officers to social distancing patrols over the weekend as New Yorkers ventured outside to enjoy warm weather. They’ll also be part of a new effort to distribute 7.5 million protective masks over the next few weeks.

“You can’t do effective enforcement without the NYPD and the NYPD is more than up to the job,” de Blasio said.

Bystander video posted on social media showed plainclothes officer Francisco Garcia slapping 33-year-old Donni Wright in the face, punching him in the shoulder and dragging him to a sidewalk after leveling him in a crosswalk.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Mary Frances O’Donnell said Wright “took a fighting stance against the officer” when he was ordered to disperse.

A few minutes earlier, officers arrested two other people on the same block for allegedly failing to comply when asked to disperse.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday that officers recovered a stun gun that may have belonged to one of the...