Three gay men are claiming they were the victims of police brutality in New York.

In a video posted today (10 June), Josh Williams, Ben Collins and Antonio Maenza claim a NYPD officer accused one of them of of public urination. Williams says he attacked him and threw him against a police car.

As seen in the clip, the officer was joined by others who pepper sprayed Williams on the ground while he was in handcuffs.

The group of officers then arrested the other two men.

‘This case is so extreme in how the encounter escalated so fast over something so silly and turned so violent,’ Williams’ lawyer Cynthia Conti-Cook said. ‘Based on how the incident started, there’s very little to justify such extreme action other than homophobia.’

The Village Voice reports Maenza was watching the incident from the sidewalk and videotaped with his phone.

He repeatedly warned the police officers he was filming them.

But as seen in the video below, both sides exchanged expletives. The officer called the civilians ‘faggots’, but one of the men did say: ‘What the fuck did you say, you want to call me a faggot, you fat pig…go eat a fucking cock, nigga (sic).’

Williams says he was dragged into the stationhouse and left in a holding cell, and given a charge of resisting arrest.

Due to the lacerations from the handcuffs, his wrists had swelled and it took several hours for a paramedic to arrive to treat his injuries.

When he was in an ambulance on his way to hospital, he claims an officer said: ‘We better not tell him where the soap is.’

Maenza and Collins were held for more than 24 hours and eventually charged with obstructing government administration.

The police station has not yet released a statement on the incident.

Check out the video below: