An NYPD police officer was arrested for striking a man while in uniform inside a Bronx subway station, cops said Friday.
Joseph DeMaio, 33, was arrested Thursday and charged with official misconduct and attempted assault for allegedly repeatedly punching Elvis Suarez on Dec. 21. He was released without bail after pleading not guilty at his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Friday.
Officer DeMaio was recorded on body-worn camera confronting Suarez, who was talking loudly on a subway platform at the E. 149th St.-Grand Concourse station in Mott Haven around 12:15 a.m., according to a criminal complaint.
Video shows the cop grab Suarez by his jacket and haul him up the steps to the mezzanine, before pushing him out an emergency exit door by the turnstiles, court documents show.
Once beyond the turnstiles, the officer ordered Suarez to “Get out of the station,” to which the man replied, “Why are you touching me? Get the f— off me, f—-t.”
“What’s up?” DeMaio told Suarez next. “We can square up right now.”
The officer was then recorded repeatedly punching Suarez, before placing him in handcuffs, court documents show.
Suarez offered no physical resistance throughout the encounter, and balled up with his hands over his head as DeMaio struck him, according to a law enforcement source.
The victim was charged with disorderly conduct and trespass, but both charges were later dropped, sources said.
DeMaio’s attack on Suarez was charged as attempted assault because his blows did not result in any physical injury, a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney said.
The NYPD refused to provide details on the incident.
“This police officer is entitled to due process and a fair hearing based on all the facts,” said Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the union representing DeMaio. “There should be no rush to judgment in this case.”
DeMaio joined the force in Oct. 2018 and has more than 200 arrests, according to his NYPD officer profile.
He is due back in court on June 8.
DeMaio was himself the victim of an attack in the New York City subway system, when he was pushed by a man into the path of an oncoming train at the E. 188th St.-Grand Concourse station on April 4, 2024, according to a release from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
The officer and his partner had spotted a man walking on the northbound tracks and were escorting him out of the station when the man shoulder-checked DeMaio, who lost his balance and stumbled toward the arriving train.
Librado Victoriano, 34, was arrested for the attack and charged with attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty at arraignment and is due back in court on May 26.