An up and coming New York rapper claims he was beaten by NYPD cops — who threw punches to his head and smashed him with a baton as he tried to surrender inside a Brooklyn grocery store.
Thomas Jennings, who suffered cuts above his eye, is seen on video with his hands up, before police started to beat him.
“I didn’t ever know it was coming,” Jennings told the Daily News of the punches that required five stitches to close the wound.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is investigating the cops’ use of force against him and the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau is also reviewing the tape as well.
Jennings’ lawyer said there was no justification for the beating.
“It’s horrendous what they did to him,” said lawyer Amy Rameau. “He had his hands up. He didn’t pose a threat to anyone in that store. It was an absolute use of excessive force.”
Jennings, 24, and another unidentified man got into a dispute over the cost of two slices of pizza.
Jennings says that the price was $3 and he was a dollar short, so he stepped outside and borrowed money from someone to cover the tab.
Jennings and the man are accused of brandishing a knife, failing to pay for the pizza, and fleeing the store.
Cops caught up to Jennings several blocks away to the Roslin grocery store on Bainbridge St. where the beating occurred.
Police Officer Lenny Lutchman is the first cop inside, brandishing a baton in his right hand and pushing Jennings in the chest with his outstretched left hand. There is no sound in the video.
Jennings raises both hands up, apparently surrendering. That’s when Officer Pearce Martinez runs up to Jennings, immediately launching three haymaker punches to the man’s head.
While Martinez is handcuffing Jennings without any difficulty, Lutchman is striking him with his baton and then drives Jennings head down into the counter with his elbow.
The criminal complaint said that Jennings was flailing his arms and resisted arrest in the store.
The case against Jennings is likely to be dropped after the DA determined there was no robbery involving the pizza shop.