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EXCLUSIVE: NYPD investigating video of cop unleashing xenophobic rant on Uber driver (WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE IN VIDEO)
BY Jason Silverstein
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 4:46 AM
Updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 10:09 AM
The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating a video that appears to show a plainclothes cop unleashing a xenophobic rant on an Uber driver during a traffic stop in the West Village on Monday, the Daily News has learned.
"I don't know where you're coming from, where you think you're appropriate in doing that; that's not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?"the officer, who is white, hollered at the driver, according to a video filmed by a backseat passenger.
Moments before slamming the car door and storming away, the hot-headed cop shouted at the driver: "I don't know what f---ing planet you're on right now!"
The cop repeatedly mocked the mild-mannered driver's accent and broken English, cursing at him. The driver simply responed by saying "okay" during one point in the cop's tirdade, the video shows. The driver's ethnicity was not immediately clear.
The roadside rage erupted after the cop tried to park his unmarked car without using his blinker, and the Uber driver went around him and gestured to him to use his signal, according to Sanjay Seth, a passenger in the Uber car who posted the incendiary video clip. Seth says in the video that the driver honked at the unmarked car as he passed.
Seth wrote on the video's YouTube page that the incident happened in the West Village, within the confines of the NYPD's 6th Precinct.
When The News called the 6th Precinct, an officer referred questions to the press office at NYPD headquarters, where a spokesman initially said the department was unaware of the video. A police official later told The News that a complaint had been given to the Internal Affairs Bureau for investigation.
"We are aware of the incident and video and it is under review with the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau," an NYPD statement read.
According to the video, during the brief moments when the cop backed off the driver amid his harangue, Seth and a fellow passenger assured the driver he did nothing wrong and advised him to continue apologizing.
"It's not your fault; this guy's just a d--k," one of passengers says on the video, later adding that the cop was on a "power trip."
The shell-shocked driver followed the passenger's advice and kept offering apologies, but the cop did not stop browbeating him.
"You don't let me f---ing finish! Stop interrupting me!" the cop tells him.
At the end of the three-minute tirade, the cop tells the driver the only reason he's not getting arrested is because he's "not important enough" and he's got other things to do. The cop gave the driver a ticket.
Seth posted the video to his Facebook page Monday afternoon, identifying the driver as "Humayun" and titling the clip, "Police Abuse of Uber Driver in New York City."
"Our Uber driver, Humayun, was abused by a police officer today in New York," Seth wrote on his Facebook page. "The unending rage, door slamming, throwing items into the car, threatening arrest without cause was bad enough -- but the officer's remarks at the end really took it to another level."
Seth did not immediately return a request for comment.
Uber has reached out to the driver and offered to provide any support he might need, Uber spokesman Matt Wing told the Daily News.
“We are disheartened by the officer’s behavior, and we appreciate the NYPD investigating the incident,” he said.
As of last week, Uber cars officiallyeclipsedthe number of registered taxis in New York City.
