Postal Worker At Center of Latest NYPD Use Of Force Case Has Local Ties

By now you’ve likely heard about the Crown Heights postal worker who was on-duty on St. Patrick’s Day (Thursday, March 17) when police arrested him, allegedly for disorderly conduct, after he yelled at the occupants of a passing car for almost running him over — occupants who were four plainclothes police officers in an unmarked police car. You may also have seen the cell phone video shot by one of several witnesses, during which officers can be heard telling him to “stop resisting” or else be “f—d up,” while he is not seen resisting.

But it also turns out that 27-year-old Glen Grays also has family ties to Fort Greene and worships with his family and fiance — who is a police officer — at Clinton Hill’s Brown Memorial Baptist Church.

The church was where Grays, his mother, fiancée, and some family members were interviewed by the New York Times last week about the incident, about growing up in the neighborhood, working multiple jobs in retail and delivery to stay out of trouble and support his family, and about tense community-police relations.

Mr. Grays is the oldest of six boys. His mother, Sonya Sapp, who lives in middle-income housing in Fort Greene, spoke briefly, only to say, “I worry about them every day, every minute, every second of every day,” before fading off with, “I’m short on words; I’m just hurt.”

Mr. Grays’s fiancée is also shaken. She is a New York City police officer he met while delivering the mail.

. . . He quoted something his grandmother used to say: “The best way for a black man to become successful is to stay away from the cops, to keep a clean record.” Mr. Grays said he felt that he needed to live his life as an example for his siblings. He pointed to his fiancée, who sat silently in the corner. “I don’t hate cops,” he told me. “I’m marrying one.”

The fact that Grays has a clean record and was doing his job — which was interrupted by the arrest, the mail he was carrying discarded on the ground and his truck left unattended for hours — at the time of his arrest has added to the latest round of outrage.

The NYPD has stated that the incident is “under internal review.”

In the meantime, the four officers involved have been removed from their unit, according to Commissioner Bill Bratton, who stated that he has “strong concerns about the charge against the individual,” as well as “about the performance of the officers, about the leadership role of the lieutenant involved and about the processing of the arrest at the precinct station house.”