 [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - The undated video begins as an officer is attempting to detain a man on a MacDougal Street sidewalk near Greenwich Village
- The detainee appears to attempt to get up when the officer, aided by a second arriving as the man gets up, pushes him back down to the ground
- Once they have him under control, the officer is seen throwing a half dozen punches at the victim's midsection
- As the officers get up to give the man space, he appears motionless and multiple people can be heard saying he's been 'knocked out'
- Spokespersons for the NYPD, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor-elect Eric Adams did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment on the incident
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'.
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