A viral video of a violent arrest over the weekend has re-ignited concerns over the discriminatory policing practices of the NYPD, as reported by The Washington Post.

The arrest – coming on a warm weekend that saw many New Yorkers ignore social distancing measures enacted to halt the spread of COVID-19 – has invited criticism that minorities are being unevenly targeted by police as the city dispatches officers to enforce the policy.

The criticism echoes long-standing complaints by defender organizations of discriminatory policing by the NYPD that pre-date the pandemic outbreak.

“This certainly isn’t the first time and this isn’t even the first time in this pandemic that we’ve seen evidence of discriminatory policing by the NYPD,” said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with the Cop Accountability Project at the Legal Aid Society.