NYPD Officer Amanda Villafane has been suspended without pay after a video emerged of her charging at a chocolate shop employee
An off-duty NYPD officer has been suspended without pay after video emerged showing her charging at a chocolate shop employee who told the cop the store was closed.
Officer Amanda Villafane was at a Godiva Store in Stamford Town Center, Connecticut, around 6pm on Sunday wither her boyfriend and mom when he was told the store was closing and she would have to leave.
In the video, which was taken by another person at the shop, Villafane can be heard making a comment about how the door is open, so the store is obviously not closed.
She then takes off her jacket and starts yelling at the store workers, the footage shows.
‘They were told the store was closing, they were not happy with that answer,’ Stamford Police Sgt Brian Butler told the New York Post.
After heated exchange between she and one of the store workers, she eventually starts charging at the woman, telling her she would ‘knock you the f*** out.’
In the video, which was taken by another person at the shop, Villafane can be heard making a comment about how the door is open, so the store is obviously not closed. She then takes off her jacket and starts yelling at the store workers, the footage shows
Her boyfriend, Christopher Salvadore, at first appears to be trying to Villafane back.
But according to the person who took the video, the 32-year-old punched him because he was filming the video with his phone.
Butler said that once the cops were called she flashed her NYPD badge and started fighting with them, too.
‘When they went to arrest her she didn’t want to cooperate so they had to take her to the ground and cuff her,’ Butler told the Post.
He said that the store’s floor was covered in ‘blood and chocolate.’
Villafane has been charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct and interfering with police, and Salvadore was charged with assault and disorderly conduct.
The NYPD said in a statement to the Post that the officer has been suspended without pay, ‘for the good of the department.’
After heated exchange between she and one of the store workers, she eventually starts charging at the woman, telling her she would ‘knock you the f*** out.’ Stamford Police Sgt Brian Butler said that once the cops were called she flashed her NYPD badge and started fighting with them, too
The incident took place at the Godiva chocolate shop in the Stamford Town Center in Connecticut