A New York hospital worker says he was savagely beaten by NYPD officers while he was returning from work over the weekend, leaving him in bleeding in the fetal position on a Brooklyn sidewalk.
Marine veteran Rayne Valentine, 32, was making his way back home after finishing a shift at Kings County Hospital Center on Saturday night, where he was worked for the past several months moving the dead bodies of COVID-19 patients into refrigerated trucks.
Valentine had been walking close to the Church Avenue subway station when he encountered a ‘swarm’ of police violently clashing with protestors in the street amid city-wide demonstrations in response to the death of George Floyd.
He watched on as a group of NYPD officers grappled with one protestor, who Valentine described as a ‘kid’. The 32-year-old took out his phone to record encounter, with the footage showing the male protestor, dressed in a yellow and black hoodie, fleeing from officers and screaming for help.
The individual is seen being pushed by one officer, before a large group – with their batons drawn – descended upon him, appearing to strike him on at least one occasion, before pushing him up against a car to arrest him.
Though Valentine says he stayed well out of the way, in the footage a police officer is seen charging towards Valentine, shouting at him to ‘move back’ to which the 32-year-old replies ‘I am moving back’.
Marine veteran Rayne Valentine, 32, was making his way back home after finishing a shift at Kings County Hospital Center on Saturday night when he says he was beaten by police, leaving him requiring seven staples in his head
Valentine is heard repeatedly protesting that he is moving back as the officer appears to push him to the ground.
Valentine has not yet returned questions from DailyMail.com about the incident, however, speaking to the Daily Beast, he says he was repeatedly kicked and beaten on the floor by a group of officers, leaving his hospital ID smeared in his own blood.
‘I was up against one of the closed shops just recording. I didn’t say anything to antagonize them. I was walking backwards as they shouted ‘back up.’ And then this cop pushed me,’ Valentine told the outlet. ‘And there were other cops hitting me on my legs and stuff too, but my head is the only thing that got seriously injured.’
During the beating, Valentine said he told officers he wasn’t a protester and was ‘just trying to get home’.
The police allegedly responded: ‘Well, you picked the wrong time to do that,’ Valentine recalled.
Valentine said the terrifying ordeal lasted for more than 90 seconds before the officers finally stopped.
‘I don’t know if it’s because they noticed my hospital ID or if it’s because they saw the blood, but they stopped, threw my phone at me, and I walked back to the hospital,’ he said.
He watched on as a group of NYPD officers grappled with one protestor, who Valentine described as a ‘kid’ (above). The 32-year-old took out his phone to record encounter, with the footage showing the male protestor, dressed in a yellow and black hoodie, fleeing from officers and screaming for help
Though Valentine says he stayed well out of the way, in the footage a police officer is seen charging towards Valentine, shouting at him to ‘move back’ to which the 32-year-old replies ‘I am moving back’
Valentine’s Kings County Hospital ID is pictured smeared with blood after the incident late Saturday night
Valentine would spend the next seven hours at Kings County Hospital, receiving seven staples in his head to treat his wounds as well as undergoing two CT scans. He also suffered bruising all over his body, Valentine said.
Photographs shared to a GoFundMe page show Valentine sitting on a gurney with blood dripping from his head.
Officers from the NYPD allegedly took a statement from Valentine at the hospital. He has since hired an attorney and is exploring his legal options.
‘Someone getting seven staples in their head while complying with all laws—that seems to be excessive force,’ his attorney, Elena Cohen told the Daily Beast. ‘We’re reviewing videos and witness counts and will take whatever actions seem appropriate after that process.’
‘We’re very troubled by this and also very troubled by other police escalation and use of excessive force that’s appeared over the past few days,’ said Cohen. ‘We’ve had many reports of peaceful protesters who were hit with batons, who had their shirts ripped off, who were pushed to the ground, who had police cars drive into them.’
Valentine would spend the next seven hours at Kings County Hospital, receiving seven staples in his head to treat his wound as well as undergoing two CT scans. He also suffered bruising all over his body, he said.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, Valentine’s GoFundMe page has raised $4,680 to help him cover medical expenses and any future legal costs.
‘Rayne is a man. A transman. A black transman. A black transman who is also a US Marine veteran,’ a post on the page, created by Lisa Veta, says.
‘Before COVID-19, he was a chef. When all the restaurants shut down, not only did he get a new job to help support himself, but the job he took is one that most couldn’t or wouldn’t do. Rayne got a job helping to stack COVID bodies.
‘On his first day on the job, he and his coworkers loaded 45 bodies within just the first few hours, not even by day’s end. He is a healthcare hero.’
Veta says that Valentine ‘became a target’ for the police, because ‘he, like many, thought it was right to video the cops beating people with their batons.’
She said he was ‘cracked in the head’ because he ‘didn’t walk fast enough for the cops’.