This year’s pool day was wet — and wild!
Parks Department staff shut down Commodore Barry Pool on Thursday, after cops tackled and cuffed a teen involved in a scuffle that occurred on the opening day for city pools.
The incident occurred as dozens of exasperated Brooklynites lined N. Elliott Place in the sizzling heat waiting for the Clinton Hill pool to reopen following a mid-day break at around 4:20 p.m. — about 20 minutes after the pool was scheduled to open.
The 16-year-old boy and his friend had been arguing, and at one point a NYC Parks worker tried to break up the fight, grabbing the teen, according one witness.
“Then the supervisor came out, he was hot-headed and started jumping on him like he was a grown-ass man his age,” said Daequa Turner, a friend of the cuffed teen.
The teen tried walk away from the scuffle just as several squad cars rolled up to the pool, and about a dozen cops tackled and then surrounded the teen, according to witnesses, who noted one female officer was spotted yanking on the kid’s hair.
“She pulled his hair and everything. She was going in,” said Sandra Rodriguez.
In one failed attempt to grab the teen, an officer tripped and fell to the pavement, and one onlooker speculated that police overreacted as a result.
“He didn’t know who was behind him, and they thought the cop got body-slammed or something, and they went crazy on him,” said Joachim Carels. “It’s insane, I mean there were 20 cops, a disproportionate response.”
Turner said that police failed to give the teen any warning, and were too quick to resort to violence.
“They didn’t say stop or nothing, tackled him for no reason and didn’t ask nobody what happened, or nothing,” he said. “That’s not how you f—— do your job.”
Police at the scene refused to explain why the teen was cuffed, referring this reporter to the Police Department’s press office, where a spokesman could not immediately comment on the incident.
Commodore Barry Pool is one of six city pools to benefit from a makeover as part of the city’s “Cool Pools NYC” program, and now features lounge chairs, cabana-style tents, new plants, and summer-themed wall art new this year.
