A high-end male model was tossed in a holding cell after recording police officers arresting a man in a Manhattan subway station — in a “retaliatory” move by police, according to his attorney.
Finn Doering, a 23-year-old male model who has walked the runway for Coach and Fendi, recorded cops pinning a man to the floor of the Second Avenue F Train during an arrest on Jun 14 while the model berates them.
Police claim Doering got in the way while two cops were trying to cuff Tarasi Watkins, 24, around 1 a.m. as the visibly distressed man repeatedly asks “Why am I being detained,” the video shows.
Watkins was splayed out on the subway platform but when officers told him to stand up, he began to act disorderly, cops said in the complaint against him.
“When I attempted to place the defendant under arrest, I observed the defendant tense his body, flail his arms, and not put his hands behind his back,” according to a police complaint.
After one officer tells Watkins he’s being detained because he’s intoxicated, Doering moves closer and questions the cop.
“Because he’s sitting on the floor he’s intoxicated?” Doering asks, moving the camera closer to Watkins and the arresting officers.
When a third officer signals to Doering that he should step back, the model snaps at them.
“I can speak! I can speak! I’m so sorry if you think I can’t,” Doering yelled back.
Footage shot by Doering also shows officers zapping Watkins with a stun gun while he’s pinned to the ground, with the model moving his camera down next to officers in order to keep up with the struggle.
“This is illegal!” Doering cries out while the two cops try to subdue a now-erratic Watkins.
After he was arrested, the typically pristine-looking Doering was taken to a dirty holding cell in the Union Square subway station.
“It was unsanitary and the experience degrading,” Doering said in an emailed statement to The Post.
While cops say Doering interfered with the arrest, Doering claims he was simply acting as a police watchdog.
“Disturbed by what appeared to be an excessive and unjustified use of force, I recorded some of the incident and asked why they were doing that,” Doering said in an emailed statement.
Mark Bederow, Doering’s attorney, considers the arrest a “retaliatory” move by the cops.
“The fact that police officers are upset that Finn was exercising First Amendment right is not a basis to arrest him. It is purely retaliatory and illegal,” Bederow said.
The NYPD did not respond for comment when asked about Bederow’s claim that Doering’s arrest was retaliatory.
Doering was recommended to be charged with obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct, but the DA is declining to prosecute the case, according to sources. The sources said Doering was just trying to film Watkins’ arrest and that – along with Doering’s lack of prior arrests – doesn’t warrant prosecution.
But Bederow said that even though the case is thrown out, he’s still seeking compensation for Doering.
“All options are on the table, including a lawsuit against the city and NYPD for this intentional and unlawful violation of Finn’s civil rights,” Bederow said.
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