Queens DA drops case against man arrested as cop kneeled on his neck

/
Three officers restrained Sircarlyle Arnold during an arrest in Jamaica Jan. 2. One officer appeared to kneel on Arnold’s neck. Image via cell phone

Three officers restrained Sircarlyle Arnold during an arrest in Jamaica Jan. 2. One officer appeared to kneel on Arnold’s neck. Image via cell phone

By David Brand

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz will no longer prosecute a man arrested by a cop who appeared to kneel on his neck in Jamaica earlier this year. 

During a brief court appearance Thursday, Queens prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case against Sircarlyle Arnold, a Long Island resident charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment and a handful of traffic violations following his arrest for operating an ATV Jan. 2. 

Two cell phone videos taken by arrest witnesses seemed to show 113th Precinct Officer Thomas Montario kneeling on the neck of Arnold, who is Black, while bystanders implored him to remove his knee. Katz has declined to charge Montario under a city law that criminalizes police restraints that restrict breathing.

Arnold’s attorney, Olayemi Olurin, criticized the DA’s Office for dragging out Arnold’s case for more than three months and likened the restraint to the killing of George Floyd last year.

“The charges against Sircarlyle Arnold should have been dismissed weeks ago, just as quickly as they were brought,” said Olurin, of the Legal Aid Society. “Mr. Arnold is still reeling from this violent arrest, during which an officer placed him in a knee-on-neck hold, the same technique used in the killing of George Floyd.”

A 19-second video that Olurin posted on Twitter Jan. 5 showed at least one officer, Montario, appearing to kneel on Arnold’s neck while he was pinned to the ground. A crowd of observers screamed for him to remove his leg.

“Why you got your knee on his face?” one man shouts in the video.

“Look at his knee,” the same man repeats nine times. “Look at his knee on his neck.”

“Take your knee off,” another woman screams.

A separate 65-second clip also appears to show Montario kneeling on Arnold’s neck as the frantic crowd forms. The video then shows three cops, two without masks, pinning Arnold to the pavement.

Olurin urged the NYPD to “take swift action to ensure that all officers involved in this incident are held accountable.”

Videos of the arrest spurred Mayor Bill de Blasio to demand “immediate answers” from the NYPD. Police said they had initiated an internal investigation of the incident, and de Blasio later told the Eagle that Montario was on modified duty pending the results of the probe.

The internal investigation is still underway, an NYPD spokesperson said Thursday.

Katz said April 2 that her office would not prosecute Montario because there was “insufficient evidence of an unlawful method of restraint.” 

Arnold’s criminal complaint states that he was driving his ATV, or quad, “in circles in the roadway, causing a public disturbance and shutting down northbound and southbound traffic.”

He “swung the quad so close to the officer that he had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck,” the complaint continues.

A snippet of a body-worn camera footage released by the Queens DA’s Office April 2 sheds little light on the officer’s claim and does not show the area around Arnold’s neck and head during the arrest. 

Another officer’s body-worn camera was damaged during the arrest, Olurin said prosecutors told her.

Olurin said Arnold was one of several dozen people participating in a memorial ride around Sutphin Boulevard for a friend who had recently died. When Arnold dismounted his ATV, he fell and was tackled by officers, she said.

“It obviously reminded me of George Floyd and that’s what makes it especially egregious,” Olurin told the Eagle in January. “It’s not just the misconduct or brutality of it all. It’s more so the gall to do something so specific that received national if not international outrage.”

The Queens DA’s Office did not immediately provide a response when contacted Thursday.