The mother whose baby was yanked from her arms by police officers at a Brooklyn benefits center used her child “as a shield” to prevent herself from getting arrested — and bit a city peace officer on the arm, according to internal witness accounts obtained by The Post.
According to statements from two Human Resources Administration officers, including one who was involved in the Dec. 7 incident at a SNAP center in Boerum Hill, 23-year-old mother Jazmine Headley acted “disorderly” and “loud” and “irate” when she refused to move from the floor of the facility.
Headley has claimed that she got into a spat with the HRA officers because she was sitting on the floor of the center with her 17-month-old son, Damone Buckman III, because there were no chairs available.
But, according to the statements, a peace officer “made several attempts to calm client Headley down and to just have a seat to avoid [the] situation from getting worse.”
Headley’s child was also still in his stroller when the incident sparked and that she only picked him up after NYPD cops arrived, the statements say.
“She began to use her baby as a shield from getting arrested and was telling the officers, ‘You better not touch me,’” one report states.
Another report says Headley “intentionally used her toddler son as a shield. He was sitting in his stroller, but she took him out once she knew the police were called.”
Prior to NYPD involvement, Headley was told that she cannot sit on the floor of the facility “because it’s a passageway and should be free of obstruction” but Headley fired back “saying she is not f—king moving anywhere,” one report states.
Then another supervisor tried to talk to Headley, “but she refused to [comply], and she became very loud, irate and was using profanity towards the security supervisors,” the report says.
Headley then allegedly told another peace officer, “I’m not f–king moving from here.”
“At that point I went over to client Headley to see if I can persuade her to get up and have a seat. As I approached her she was saying, “Don’t f–king get close to me get out of my f–king face bitch,” the witness account states, adding: “Client Headley continued to her irate behavior and creating more scene.”
An officer was “going to detain her but I told her not to due to her holding her son and I was much concern about the safety of the baby and to avoid situation escalating to [a] more serious situation,” the report says.
When the mom did not immediately comply with the guards’ orders that she either stand up or leave, they called the NYPD, whose officers were caught on video in a dramatic scene wrestling Headley’s baby from her arms.
Two responding NYPD cops had “approached client Headley to get up and leave the facility several times, but she insisted on getting service before she leaves the facility,” the report says.
“After a few more minutes of pleading with the female client to put the baby down and leave the facility, necessary actions were taken by the uniformed officers to detain her,” the other report states.
The moment that was caught on video was then described in one of the witness reports.
“As the NYPD officers were picking her up she began to flare up her arms. While resisting she put the baby between her legs in a tight grip. NYPD officers tried to get the baby off her but she was putting up a fight,” the report states, adding that Headley then “kicked me on my right shoulder.”
Another peace officer got bitten on her left arm. A photo obtained by The Post shows an HRA peace officer’s arm with visible bite marks. That officer was taken to Methodist Hospital after the incident, according to the report.
In one of the reports, an HRA officer states: “The officers were careful while handling her not to harm the baby. The female client was the one putting him in a tight hold, grabbing his clothes and even wrapped her legs around his body so that he couldn’t be detached from her.”
“The female officers grabbed her arm in order to cuff her but the female client kept pulling away to keep a grip on the bay. Additional NYPD officers were called to the scene. As soon as they arrived the baby was released from the female client and she was arrested and escorted out of the facility,” that report says.
Headley’s lawyers have argued that Headley was forced to sit on the floor of the benefits center after standing for hours waiting to discuss benefits with an HRA agent.
Following the incident, Headley was arrested and charged, but the Brooklyn DA dropped their case against Headley and a judge ordered her released from jail.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill has defended his cops’ handling of the incident.
Meanwhile, Teamsters Local 237 boss Greg Floyd, who represents HRA guards, told The Post on Friday that two officers were suspended for 30 days without pay as a result of the incident.
Floyd put the blame on City Hall, which denied involvement in the decision.
“The mayor is already facing a lawsuit because of this incident, and to compound it, he’s now suspending two individuals that had nothing to do with the baby and the mother being wrestled,” Floyd said. “Way to show leadership in a crisis situation, Mayor de Blasio!”
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