Cops Smash Boy Through Window in the Bronx

Robert Stolarick/JJIE

A blood stained sidewalk outside the Bronx store where Javier Payne, 14, was allegedly pushed through a glass window by police.

UPDATE: 'Prominent Lawyer Takes Case of Bronx Boy Allegedly Pushed Through Window by Police'

Javier Payne, 14, in the hospital Sunday afternoon.

Javier Payne, 14, in the hospital Sunday afternoon.

NEW YORK — The 14-year-old boy sat on the stoop of Hookah Stop in the Bronx, blood pouring from his chest and filling his lungs, and thought: This is what it’s like to die. Moments before 11 o’clock Saturday night, the boy, Javier Payne, had been smashed through the store’s plate glass window by a police officer who had stopped him after an altercation with a man on the street, witnesses said.

The boy was bleeding critically and under arrest.

When EMS paramedics arrived at the scene they found the color draining from Payne’s face, his clothes soaked in blood and his hands cuffed behind his back. A witness described the police officers on the scene as “nonchalant” about the emergency unfolding in front of them.

“He looked like a young man who was facing down his own mortality,” said one city employee familiar with the incident. “This is a kid who was staring at his own doom. He looked like he was going to die. And if he didn’t get help when he did, he would have.”

new york logo 01An argument ensued between the paramedics and police about removing the teenager’s handcuffs so they could treat his injuries. Initially, the police refused, but eventually relented, witnesses said.

One of the paramedics had to hold the boys chest wound closed while they rushed him to Jacobi Medical Center. Medical experts said it may have saved Payne’s life.

As he was wheeled into the emergency room Payne was shrieking: “They threw me through a glass window and now I’m going to die, I’m going to die.”

Initially, EMS did not rush to the scene because when the officers put the call over they did not indicate that there was a pediatric emergency, a source familiar with the incident said. Instead they used a protocol normally used for drunks.

The office did not issue a “sheet” — an email to the police press corps detailing newsworthy events — on the incident.

The window at the Hookah Spot on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx where Javier Payne, 14, was allegedly pushed through a window by a police officer while he was handcuffed.

Robert Stolarick / JJIE

The window at the Hookah Stop on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx where Javier Payne, 14, was allegedly pushed through a window by a police officer while he was handcuffed.

A spokesman for the police department said two teenagers were arrested, ages 13 and 14, at approximately 11 p.m. Officers charged both of the suspects with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and assault. He said he could not confirm the incident involving Payne being thrown through the glass.

“It’s not listed in the report here,” he said.

He said he could not immediately confirm whether or not an investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau was under way.

Saturday night, Payne was apprehended and placed under arrest by two patrol officers in the Little Italy section of the Bronx on a mixed residential and commercial stretch of Arthur Avenue. During the arrest, and after he was handcuffed one of the officers smashed his face through the plate glass window of the hookah shop at 2491 Ave., cutting his face and slicing open his chest and puncturing his lung, family and sources said.

Support JJIEThe NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau has launched an investigation into the incident, according to, Javier’s mother, Cherita Payne, 50. Sunday afternoon, she said police finally allowed her to see her son, after he had undergone hours of surgery. She visited her son on the sixth floor of the hospital’s intensive care unit where she found him lying in a hospital room, incapable of moving, his face covered with fresh abrasions, two incongruously bright, white gauzes taped to his forehead and the left side of his scalp above the ear.

Her son, hooked up to tubes and wires and his head poking from beneath a crisp blanket, told her he didn’t know what was wrong with the officer who drove him through the plate glass window.

When she asked him what happened after he was injured she said her son told her: “I told them I needed to get to the hospital. I’m bleeding. I can feel the blood gushing out. Then the cops told me not to worry about it, that they were going to take me to a hospital.”

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During her brief visit, two members of the department who introduced themselves as investigators from the Internal Affairs Bureau interviewed her son. They showed her son Javier pictures of police officers and asked him if he recognized any of them as the ones who had driven his head through the window.

She said he did not identify anyone during her visit.

When Javier saw his mother, he began to weep.

“Mommy, Mommy,” he said. “The cop, he pushed my head through the window while I was handcuffed, Mommy, he pushed my head through the window.”

Cherita said she tried her best to comfort him.

“I said, ‘It’s going to be all right, it’s going to be all right, I’m going to protect you,’” she said.

She began to convulse with sobs as she recounted the anecdote.

“That’s my job,” she said. “That’s my job isn’t it? That’s my job as his mother. I’m so tired of this shit, pardon my language, but I’m so tired, so tired. Help me Jesus, in the name of the Lord, help me.”

A blood stained sidewalk outside the Bronx store where Javier Payne, 14, was allegedly pushed through a glass window by police.

Robert Stolarick / JJIE

A blood stained sidewalk outside the Bronx store where Javier Payne, 14, was allegedly pushed through a glass window by police.

She said police officers informed her that she would need to go to the 48th precinct and get a letter of approval signed every day that she wants to visit her son again.

Javier, the youngest of seven children, is her baby, Cherita said. She described him as a typical teenager but that he is immature for his age and that he can’t make decisions on his own. She said he is trying his best to make it into the next grade.

By late afternoon Sunday, the shattered glass had been swept up and most of the blood had been sprayed on to the curb. A new pane of glass had already been installed. Gaudy lights flashed advertising the ornate water pipes behind it. Some of Paynes blood collected in puddles that ran along the curb in front of 2491 Arthur Ave. Some of it had already begin to fade indistinguishably into the sidewalk, a haphazard pattern of splotches and sprays.

Jose Perez who lives in apartments next to the hookah shop, said he left his house Saturday night to grab a soda from the store down the block when he saw the immediate aftermath of the mayhem.

“I came out and saw the the glass and the blood — it was everywhere,” Perez, 34, said. “Thank God he is going to make it. I didn’t know he was just a kid, a young guy like that. It’s a total shock to me. Why would they do that?”

He said his block of apartments and small businesses and pizza shops is peaceful, and that relations between the police and the community is unremarkable.

Nageib Aldaylam, 47, has owned and operated Hookah Stop for almost three years. He agreed with his neighbor that the neighborhood is a sleepy one.

“My friend, I never even had a gate on my store,” he said.

He said he recognized Payne but does not know him well. He said Payne and another teenager had walked into his shop before the violent confrontation with the police. Aldaylam said he came from behind his slightly elevated section behind the counter to greet the customers as his practice. He said they didn’t buy anything, but they didn’t cause any trouble.

“The kids came in normal, and they left normal,” he said. “They did zero, nothing. All the action happened outside.”

As soon as Payne and his friend stepped out of the store and back on to Arthur Avenue the police officers stopped them. He said he heard the boys and the officers arguing and that heated words were exchanged. He said they went back and forth for several minutes when he was jolted by the sound of the glass exploding.

He said the Payne was sitting on his stoop moaning: “I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding.” In the street, the squad car was parked parallel to his shop with a man in it gesturing to Payne. Aldaylam said it was his impression that the man was identifying Payne.

He said the officers questioned him while Payne sat and bled. They asked Aldaylam if he had any security footage. He told them no. And then they asked if Payne and his friend had done anything when they came into his store. Again, Aldaylam replied no.

Aldaylam added that it seemed the boys may have slipped into his store to hide from the police. When asked if he thought the police went too far in smashing Payne through his window, he shrugged.

“What happened, happened,” he said. “The truth is the truth. What more can I say?”

As she left the hospital, Cherita was less subtle about her feelings.

“You got to stop this, you got to put a stop to this,” she said. “We’ve got to stand up for ourselves, for our children. We’re human. We have rights. My kid has rights, too.”

Ronald Vails, Javier’s stepfather, said his stepson does not cut an intimidating figure.

“He’s a little guy,” said Vails, 64. “He’s 14 but he looks much smaller. There was no need for this. They said he still has pieces of glass in his lung.”

Javier’s family said Payne is part of the Persons in Need of Supervision program at MS 22 where he is in the eighth grade; she said she enlisted him to make sure he got more attention. His family said he he loves sports. He had recently taken an interest in basketball, and enjoys playing handball in local playground courts.

Vails said he played wide receiver for the Bronx Steelers, a youth league football team in the Fordham section whose mission it is to reduce violence for children and teens in the Bronx.

Vails said it is too early to tell how his injuries will affect his ability to play for the team in the future.

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24 thoughts on “Cops Smash Boy Through Window in the Bronx

  1. Pingback: In Photos: Police Brutality in the Bronx | Bokeh

  2. Pingback: Outrage Ensues After NYPD Officer Nearly Kills 14-Year-Old Boy During Arrest - Banoosh

  3. Pingback: It Seems He Overreacted | Simple Justice

  4. response to B.J lumpkin
    it would be nice to feel that but no, cops are really brutal these days look foe example the cannibalistic cop, he is just one of the many cops,i believe cops are behind a lot of unsolved killings and abductions it a well known fact that they patronize prostitutes again i say i believe are behind a lot of unsolved abductions of women holding them as sex slaves yes cops !, every 6 months they should have a psychological evaluation. B.J.Lumpkin go to you tube and type in police brutally and post your comment, tell if cops are not headed to hell and most are angry white males not but most angry of seeing the blackman and white women together, that makes them want to go out and yes shoot a negro

  5. Have anybody been on you tube lately see the many accounts of people who have actually seen hell that hell does in fact exist, i am saying this to say that there are a lot of cops who have died and are now being tormented in hell, this is true.

    the best way to deal with those hell bound bastards is to give them no reason to approach in that way the city would be forced to lay them off and folks you need to start taking control of your communities stop failing the younger generation find constructive things for them to do, show them the lucrative opportunities that are out there, and everyone need to use their smart phone more often to capture potential lawsuits, most cops have the attitude of a loser and most do commit suicide. stay away from them like poison ivy, cops are now officially the new breed of criminals the communities don’t even trust them, that wall of silence that they maintain means they HAVE NO INTEGRITY they do not stand up for whats right and as such they pave the way to hell for themselves.

  6. Pingback: NYPD Officers Allegedly Smash Boy’s Head Through Window, Nearly Killing Him - Liberty Crier

  7. Have faith in the Internal Affairs Division investigation. Teens are very unpredictable and the teen could have done this to himself by head butting the glass window. No police officer wants to be investigated for miss handling a juvenile and they find no joy in having to handle a bloody suspect. I am confident that this is not the outcome the officers were wanting.
    Police departments need to training their officers on the Teen Brain and give them skills to better communicate with teens. Teens also need training on how to communicate effectively with authority figures (parents, teachers, employers, etc.). Progressive police departments like the Columbus PD and the Houston PD are using the TEENS and POLICE SERVICE ACADEMY (TAPS) to close the social distance between teens and the police.

    • Are you fucking stupid? People with your robotic thinking are the problem. Sit your simple ass down and let people that can form critical thoughts speak on this situation smh….

  8. Pingback: NYPD Officers Allegedly Smash Boy’s Head Through Window, Nearly Killing Him |

  9. I’m in no way defending the behavior that led up to the arrest……the kids are not “babies”, they knew that they were engaging in criminal behavior that could get them hurt and jailed, but once the police have them in custody, it is NOT THEIR JOB to punish or harm them in any way. We as a nation wont even allow a convicted rapist/murderer to feel pain upon their legal execution, but it’s okay to beat suspects to within an inch of their lives or allow prisoners to abuse one another while the guards look the other way?

  10. There is NO WAY that he “fell” against a plate glass window and went through it with such force as to open his chest and have glass enter his heart. He was handcuffed when it happened……this is just another example of police brutality and then the lies to cover it up. They didn’t even want to take his cuffs off so that he could receive medical attention? That info alone tells me that what they did was done to cause intentional harm. We are entering a police state where we are under suveillance without probable cause and when apprehended as suspects are meted out punishment with gestapo style tactics by those who will not comply with due process. Civil rights?? What are those? We have slowly seen our rights disappear one by one and more and more good cops will pay with their lives due to the hatred that this kind of brutality breeds for cops everywhere. Arrest these thugs immediately and charge them with attempted murder.

  11. I AGREEE ^ THE WAY THE POLICE TREATS THE COMMUNITES THEY WORK IN IS DISGUSTING!!!!!!! I HOPE THIS BOY GETS JUSTICE.

  12. I know plenty of cops…and MOST are great . Like every profession, there are some jerks. But there are plenty of kids that are punks. Disrespectful and thugs…and they need a parent to kick their ass and teach them respect. And COPS should be respected. When someone kicks in your door…you’re not calling some dirtbag crack head right? Raise your kids right and much of this violence will be avoided. Like the thugs that shot the retired Navy Seal Chistopher Geden…they should be shot the punks! Ruining our country,….we need to throw out the trash….gang bangers …need to go!

  13. Pingback: Cops Nearly Kill Handcuffed Young Boy, Smashing His Head Through Window | Atlas Left

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  15. These cops are out of control! There is no justification for this excessive use of force against a diminutive 14yo. But some police (not all, I personally know quite a few good ones) act as though they are above because incidents like these get swept under the rug, or buried in bureaucracies/courts unwilling to confront and overturn the protective culture of law enforcement. I hope that the young man recovers completely from the physical, emotional and spiritual violence done to his person, and that the cop who put him through the window is appropriately disciplined, i. e. fired.

  16. Pingback: NYPD Officers Allegedly Smash Boy’s Head Through Window, Nearly Killing Him

  17. Pingback: NYPD Officers Smash Boy’s Head Through Window, Nearly Killing Him

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  19. That’s what happens when you hire subhuman filth to be police officers. Simply end the career, if not life, of every white trash okie who singed up for the job, and we wouldn’t have crimes like this unfold in our city. Seriously, no one who is white trash should be hired for that job, they are all criminals. That’s like hiring mobsters as cops. The City will have these types of problems as long as we have this type of police. Every knows they are white trash, how do they keep their jobs?

    • Honestly. Stop it with the race angle. This happens more often than you thin to all types of races. And not with just white cops as well. Instead of singling out each event as a whole community. Hold the 1 person responsible. Was this excessive??? Yes. Over the top excessive. What we as a community should be more concerned with is sensitivity training for theses bad apples. I hope the kids pulls through and sues the sgit out of the city. So maybe they’ll wake up and start making some changes to their protocol and hold those guilty accountable.

  20. Pingback: To protect, serve, and shove a kid through a plate glass window every now and then | and that's the way it was

  21. Pingback: NYPD Cops Smash A Boy Through A Window in the Bronx! | More Than A Quota