Police Commissioner Bill Bratton defended his officers’ handling of an 84-year-old Chinese man left bloodied in a confrontation with cops over jaywalking.
“I’m not aware of excessive force in that at all,” Bratton told reporters on Monday during a hastily scheduled visit to the West 96th Street corridor that has turned lethal for pedestrians in recent weeks. “It was an unfortunate circumstance.”
Upper West Side resident Kang Wong, 84, was left dazed and bleeding in the scuffle with cops who were ticketing jaywalkers on Sunday near the scene of another pedestrian fatality—a confrontation that escalated in plain view of reporters covering the death.
Bratton said he believed Wong sustained his injuries in a fall, adding, “We’ll have to wait until we end the investigation and get an idea what actually happened.”
While Bratton vowed to address traffic hazards at the “nightmare location,” the son of the roughed-up senior blasted police — and said his dad wound up with four surgical staples in the back of his head and is still waiting on the results of a CAT scan.
“I’m very disappointed — angry to say the very least,” said the 41-year-old son of Wong. “I don’t want to say too much now, but more will come out when my attorney deals with this.”
Asked if his family will sue the city or the police department, the son — who asked that his name be withheld — said, “We’re strategizing now.”
Wong was strolling north on Broadway across 96th Street at around 5 p.m. on Sunday when an officer stopped him for walking against the light, said witnesses. Police were targeting jaywalkers in the hours after a third pedestrian fatality in the area this month.
Wong, who lives with his son a block away on West 97th Street, appeared to not understand the cop, witnesses said. The disagreement happened with reporters still at the scene covering the death, hours earlier, of 26-year-old pedestrian Samantha Lee.
Lee, a doctor, was struck by two vehicles when she attempted to cross 96th Street mid-block between Broadway and Amsterdam, authorities said.
Wong’s son said his father only speaks Cantonese. “He didn’t understand what was happening,” he said. “He didn’t even understand what jaywalking means, to be quite honest.”
Witnesses saw the cop walk Wong over to a Citibank near 96th and Broadway. “[The officer] stood him up against the wall and was trying to write him a ticket. The man didn’t seem to understand, and he started walking away,” said a witness, Ian King, a Fordham University law student.
“The cop tried to pull him back, and that’s when he began to struggle with the cop,” said King, 24. “As soon as he pushed the cop, it was like cops started running in from everywhere.”
Wong was left bleeding and dazed on the ground with cuts to his face.
He was cuffed and and taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. After several hours, he was hauled off to the 24th Precinct station house before being allowed to go home.
His son said he learned of the bust when the arresting officer called him to ask about his father’s medication. But from there, “It was a big-time runaround,” the son said. “It was just luck we managed to somehow get in touch with the right person.”
He described his father as a “very strong guy” who enjoys taking brisk walks. “Every day it’s the same,” he said, adding, “He didn’t fall on his own, let’s just say.”
He said the experience has left him “a little disappointed with the system and how things work. We have family members and friends that are police folk. This gave me a different perception of them.”
He said he understood the police’s concerns for pedestrian safety. “It’s been a horrible corner since they installed the new [Subway] station [at 96th Street],” he said. “I’ve been here 40 years, all my life. Since they put up that new station, the way [people] cross is just different.”
But he added, “I just can’t imagine an 84-year-old is the one you want to pick for jaywalking.”
“I believe there’s a bunch of rookie cops out there that [don’t] understand what they’re supposed to do,” he said “That’s what happened yesterday.”
The older Wong finally emerged from his West 97th Street apartment building — which overlooks the intersection where little Arielle Russo, 4, was mowed down by a teen driver — around 3 p.m. on Monday. Wearing a cap, glasses and winter coat, he smiled and waved to reporters, but didn’t speak.
A bruise covered his cheek as he hopped in a car and took off.
Meanwhile, the stepped-up scrutiny of pedestrians and bicyclists around 96th continued on Monday, with cops defending their focus on non-motorists.
One traffic enforcement officer told the Post he had just tangled with an angry bicyclist at West 96th Street. “The guy was going against traffic … I told him he couldn’t do that and he swung at me” with a bike lock cable. “He came close to hitting me.”
The officer said he called out to nearby cops for help but was ignored. “It’s very bad here,” the officer said of the intersection. “Some people, they don’t want to listen.”