Luis Machado, the NYPD lieutenant who supervised the officers who arrested a postal worker in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, earlier this month has been put on modified duty, according to a spokesperson for the NYPD’s Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.
Machado, along with three other plainclothes officers—Lazo Lluka, Miguel Rodriguez, and David Savella—were driving an unmarked cruiser when they struck USPS employee Glenn Gray’s mail truck, the spokesperson said.
A bystander captured the ordeal on video, which began after the postal worker shouted at the police. The video went viral, drawing the attention of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
Gray was handcuffed and put into the back of the police car. He was taken to the local precinct and issued a summons for disorderly conduct, which requires him to appear in court.
“The case is currently under internal review,” the spokesperson said on April 1.
After viewing the video, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said: “Based on what I witnessed on the various videos I’ve reviewed, I have strong concerns about the charge against that individual.”
Gray told the Daily News that he agrees with the disciplining of the officers, but doesn’t feel they should lose their jobs.
“Honestly speaking, we’re all human, we all make mistakes, but lately a lot of mistakes have been made by police officers,” he told the News.
