NYPD roughed up man who asked why his brother, who uses a wheelchair, was in handcuffs: suit

A Harlem man was roughed up by cops after they slapped handcuffs on his wheelchair-bound brother, a new lawsuit claims.

Abass Toure’s rough arrest on Oct. 4 at E. 115th St. and Second Ave., captured on video, is the subject of a Manhattan Federal Court suit claiming cops used excessive force. The footage begins with cops struggling to put cuffs on Abass’s brother, Amara, who uses a wheelchair.

The handicapped man's brother gets into an altercation with police.

“All this for a handicap! He’s handicapped! He’s in a wheelchair! What can he possibly do?" a bystander yells at the officers.

A photo of Abass Toure the day after he was allegedly beaten by police. (Courtesy of attorney Evan Brustein)

When Toure arrives at the scene, a confrontation quickly erupts. Footage shows Toure swat away a cop putting hands on him. Officers then gang-tackled Toure to the ground, clobbering him with uppercuts, the suit states. An officer stomped his head into the concrete while he was down, according to the suit filed Friday.

“I was really scared because my brother is in a wheelchair and there were so many cops surrounding him. I thought he was going to be beat up because you see it happen all the time. And it ended up happening to me the same night and I was just asking a question,” Toure, 30, said.

A criminal complaint alleged Toure yelled “F--- you pig! That’s my brother. You’re letting me through.”

Toure was arrested for resisting, obstruction and disorderly conduct, the NYPD confirmed. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges if Toure stayed out of trouble.

Abass Toure is pictured several days after the confrontation. He says he still has vision problems out of his left eye months after the Oct. 2019 arrest. (Courtesy of attorney Evan Brustein)

It was unclear why Toure’s brother was handcuffed, or if he was charged.

Toure claims his injuries from the beating still linger. He says he still has trouble with vision in his left eye and scars on his face.

“I think it’s just outrageous – he was only asking what the police were doing to his wheelchair-bound brother. And they responded how they did.,” Toure’s lawyer Evan Brustein said.

“The police were going after him for commenting on what they were doing to his brother. They responded by silencing him.”

The Law Department said the case would be carefully reviewed and declined to comment further.