After a 26-year-old woman was fatally struck as she jaywalked across W. 96th Street on the Upper West Side early this morning—the third such pedestrian fatality in the area in the last eight days—cops went out in full force there today, giving tickets to jaywalkers and checking drivers' licenses. And according to the Post, cops assaulted an elderly man who jaywalked in front of reporters and NYPD officers around 5 p.m. this afternoon.

NYPOST: Cops beat elderly man into bloody mess today after jaywalking at 96th: http://t.co/NLEAIryZZn pic.twitter.com/n6pxpW9w53 — newyorkist (@Newyorkist) January 19, 2014

Just witnessed this on Upper West Side with my friend Ian, who was interviewed by the New York Post: http://t.co/2bZyLRAq5y — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 19, 2014

The Post notes that the victim didn’t seem to understand English-language commands: "The guy didn’t seem to speak English. The cop walked him over to the Citibank" near the northeast corner of 96th and Broadway, witness Ian King told them. "[The officer] stood him up against him the wall and was trying to write him a ticket. The man didn’t seem to understand, and he started walking away."

When the officer pursued the man, all hell broke loose: "The cop tried to pull him back and that’s when he [the pedestrian] began to struggle with the cop," King continued. "As soon as he pushed the cop, it was like cops started running in from everywhere." The man ended up bloody and bruised, then was handcuffed and taken away.

Community Board 7 offered eight actions that should be taken after the recent spate of pedestrian deaths in the area; none of them included issuing tickets for jaywalking. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has long been an advocate for the strategy though—back in 1998, officers told the Times they were annoyed by the tactic.

At a press conference last week, Bratton cited figures on "pedestrian error" contributing to collisions involving death or injury without mentioning his source, and stressed the need for "pedestrian education." Mayor de Blasio later said the emphasis would be on education, and not enforcement.

Cops told us they have no information about the incident right now. We'll update when we learn more.