Shocking video captured an NYPD officers pummeling a homeless man until he was apparently unconscious as cops try to clear encampments that have sprung up around crime-plagued New York City.
The video shows the unidentified officer landing blow after blow on a homeless man he was trying to arrest on a sidewalk in Greenwich Village.
'Oh, he knocked him out! He's not moving,' a bystander can be heard saying in the video, which was posted Thursday.
It is not clear when the incident took place. A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio did not comment on the incident. Spokespersons for the NYPD and Mayor-elect Eric Adams did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Watch below
An officer is attempting to detain this homeless main as they clear out an encampment in Manhattan
A struggle begins after the homeless man appears to try and get up while being detained
A second officer arrives from the left to assist the first as the officers struggle the homeless man to the ground
The first officer is then seen throwing about a half dozen punches to the man's midsection
The first officer emerges from the incident as the homeless man lies motionless, with multiple people declaring he was 'knocked out'
The video, posted by WorldStar.com, begins with the officer attempting to handcuff the prone homeless man along restaurant-lined McDougal Street in the trendy neighborhood.
The man tries to stand up and grabs the cops leg before his partner rushes over to knock the vagrant back to the ground, according to the video.
The cop grabs for his gun belt as the two tumble to the ground before the officer throws a half-dozen punches that seemingly connected with the man's head and midsection, the video shows.
The beaten man is seen lying motionless after the officers step away for the remaining 25 seconds of the 37-second clip.
The incident comes as homelessness in the city has reached its highest levels since the Great Depression. Overcrowded homeless shelters have led to encampments sprouting up in nearby Tompkins Square Park, as well as under bridges spanning the East River.
The number of single adults sleeping in municipal shelters spiked by 103 percent in the past decade - from 25,000 to 50,000 - and has continued to soar since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the New York Coalition for the Homeless.
There were 47,979 homeless people - including 14,881 homeless children - sleeping each night in the NYC municipal shelter system in August 2021, according to the agency. In the same month, there were 18,357 single adults in shelters.
The coalition added that thousands of homeless people sleep throughout the streets, subways and other public spaces but there is 'no accurate measure' of such data and city surveys 'significantly underestimate the number of unsheltered homeless New Yorkers'.
Many have said that de Blasio's attempts to handle an already existing mental health crisis have only exacerbated it despite De Blasio facing regular condemnation for being too soft on crime and its causes.
Just last week, the lame-duck
