New York police commissioner Bill Bratton disciplined a detective on Wednesday after the officer was caught on video berating and swearing an Uber driver.

A civilian review board took over the investigation of the detective after a passenger in the car posted video of the exchange online. Bratton put the unidentified detective on modified duty on Wednesday, pulling him from a counterterrorism task force in which he reportedly had a top level of security clearance. Further disciplinary action could follow, depending on the civilian board’s recommendations to Bratton.

Passenger Sanjay Seth says he was in the the back of an Uber car on Monday afternoon when the driver honked his horn at an unmarked car that was blocking traffic in an attempt to park without hazard lights or indicators on.

The driver then gestured at the other car, “casually and non-offensively”, Seth said in the description posted on YouTube, at which point the officer, dressed in plain clothes, signaled for the Uber driver to stop and pull over.

Seth’s covertly filmed video of the altercation shows the officer, a white man who does not identify himself except as police, leaning into the driver’s window to scream: “Stop it with your mouth, stop it with your ‘for what sir, for what sir,’ stop it with that bullshit, and realize the three vehicle and traffic law violations that you’ve committed.”

When the driver calmly tries to answer a question and accede to the officer with an “OK”, the officer often interrupts him, at one point mocking the driver’s pronunciation of English and at another suggesting he does not comprehend US laws because he emigrated from abroad: “How long have you been in this country?”

“I don’t know where you’re coming from,” the officer said. “Remember this in the future, don’t ever do that again. The only reason you’re not in handcuffs going to jail and getting summonses in the precinct is because I have things to do.



“That’s the only reason. ‘Cause this isn’t important enough to me. You’re not important enough. Don’t ever do that again.”

At one point the officer also says: “I don’t know what fucking planet you think you’re on right now.”

The officer eventually turns to Seth and another passenger and tries to win their sympathies, telling them that the Uber driver is wasting their time.

“Sure,” one replies.

The officer then leaves the driver with what appears to be a ticket.

The NYPD on Tuesday announced it had ceded the investigation to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent body with subpoena power that submits its recommendations to the police commissioner, who decides how to discipline an officer. The NYPD did not identify the officer, who will now have a complaint on his record regardless of the CCRB’s conclusions.



The officer’s behavior was “wrong and unacceptable”, an Uber spokesman, Matthew Wing, said in a statement.

“We are in touch with our driver-partner who was subjected to this terrible experience and will continue to provide any support he needs,” he said.

An unnamed law enforcement official told CNN that the policeman is a detective and faces suspension, reassignment and the loss of his security clearance as consequence of his actions.