Charges dropped against mom after video stokes outrage
A mother who was arrested after police violently pulled her toddler son from her arms in a videotaped encounter at a New York City social services office has had all charges against her dismissed, with the Brooklyn district attorney saying Tuesday he was acting “in the interest of justice.”
Jazmine Headley had been in jail since Friday on charges including obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of a child and trespassing, after she was arrested following a dispute with a guard in a crowded waiting room of a Brooklyn public benefits office.
In dismissing the charges, District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said he was “horrified by the violence depicted in the video,” which showed officers yanking Headley’s 18-month-old son from her arms, and that the situation should have been handled differently.