Two NYPD Officers on Modified Duty After Brooklyn Arrest Video

Two New York City police officers have been placed on modified duty following a violent arrest captured on cellphone video inside a Brooklyn liquor store, an incident officials described as stemming from a mistaken identity during an undercover drug operation.

The confrontation occurred on the afternoon of April 14 at BK Wine Depot on Hoyt Street in the Cobble Hill neighborhood. Video footage, which quickly spread on social media platforms including Instagram, shows two plainclothes officers, one wearing an NYPD vest, restraining and striking a man inside the store. The clips depict officers punching the man repeatedly, slamming his head into a counter and refrigerator door, driving a knee into his midsection, and dragging him across the floor amid shattered glass bottles. The man, who sustained visible injuries including cuts and bleeding, cried out in pain during the struggle, which lasted several minutes as bystanders recorded and shouted objections. He was eventually handcuffed and taken outside, where emergency medical services arrived to treat him.

According to NYPD officials, the officers were conducting an undercover narcotics investigation after receiving complaints of...