Video Shows NYPD Officer Robbing Thousands of Dollars from Bed-Stuy Bodega
Police detective Ian Cyrus of the 73rd Precinct has been suspended from work without pay after being caught on video stealing thousands of dollars from a Bed-Stuy bodega during a raid targeting the sale of unlicensed cigarettes. As first reported by Eyewitness News, Cyrus participated in a narcotics squad investigation of Yemen Deli & Grocery, on the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard and Halsey Street, which revolved around the suspected sale of loose cigarettes. Two employees were arrested during the raid and cigarettes and cash from the register totaling $593 were taken as evidence. But, as it turns out, that’s not all that was taken.
The following day, after being provided with a receipt for the $593, store manager Ali Abdullah ” noticed nearly $3,000 in store rent money missing from a box he kept hidden under the counter.” Abdullah told Eyewitness News that because he wasn’t in the store at the time of the raid, he at first thought it was robbery, most likely by one or more of his employees. But then, Abdullah looked at the security camera footage which took place during the raid and saw the officers confiscated much more than what they needed for evidence: “The video showed a crime unfolding, as one of the detectives discovers the rent money box under the counter. Then Detective Ian Cyrus grabs a handful money out of the box before bending down, as if hiding behind a door, his back to the surveillance camera. When he stands up, he appears to be putting the stack of money in his coat pocket.”
Abdullah called the 73rd Precinct, which sent someone over to look at the video. Abdullah says the officer watched it and said: “Oh (expletive)… He’s going to lose his pension, lose his life, for $2,600?” Eyewitness News says that the case has only begun to be investigated following the news channel’s exposure of the situation, but that “just hours before we broke the story, Cyrus was suspended without pay and his supervisor stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty.”
So remember everyone: It’s not just enough to have video of police officers behaving in corrupt, reprehensible, illegal manners—you’ve also got to make sure that the story gets picked up by a major media company. Then maybe you’ll see results. Maybe.
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