'WHAT DID I DO?' NYPD launches internal investigation after video shows cops’ takedown of 20-year-old man ‘for smoking marijuana’

A CONTROVERSIAL video of a young man's violent arrest has prompted an internal investigation by the New York City Police Department.

• Erica Davies

Fitzroy Gayle and an unknown man were smoking marijuana inside a park in Brooklyn, New York when they were approached by cops last Wednesday, the NYPD claimed.

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The NYPD will launch an internal investigation into the violent arrest of a young man in New York CityCredit: AP:Associated Press

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Fitzroy Gayle, 20, was allegedly approached by cops last Wednesday for smoking marijuana in a Brooklyn parkCredit: AP:Associated Press

The young men allegedly took off in separate directions after they were apprehended and officers chased them down.

A concerned citizen filmed the exchange between Gayle and the arresting officer and shared it on Twitter on March 4.

In the video, the 20-year-old stands with his back against a wall as a plainclothes officer places his hand on the young man's chest.

"What did I do? What crime did I commit?" asks Gayle, who holds up his hands throughout the confrontation as the cop keeps him standing against the wall.

Gayle - whose hands are visible throughout the confrontation - repeatedly insists he "did not commit a crime."

Within moments, multiple plainclothes NYPD officers rush out of an SUV and restrain him on the sidewalk.

Gayle can be heard shouting "Help me!" and "I am not resisting" as officers forcibly hold him face-down on the concrete.

He told Buzzfeed News that he "wasn't really surprised" at the arrest, but he "just thought it wasn't going to happen to me."

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In the video, Gayle is seen asking a plainclothes cop "What did I do?" as he's placed under arrestCredit: AP:Associated Press

Gayle was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration in the second degree, and unlawful possession of marijuana, the NYPD said in a statement to CNN.

The department added that the incident is currently under internal review and that the officers involved haven't had their duty status altered.

The unidentified man was issued a summons and released, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

Officers in the responding precinct had received a "shot spotter" alert indicating possible shots fired prior to the incident, Shea said.

However, he added that there's nothing to indicate that two men were somehow tied to the shot spotter alert.

The NYPD didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Sun.

Mayor Bill de Blasio weighed in at the same presser, saying: "I don't like what I saw, obviously it's not what we're trying to do here. We don't have all the facts, we need a full investigation."

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At least eight NYPD officers hold him down as he shouts "Help me!" and "I'm not resisting"Credit: AP:Associated Press

Gayle's family was calling for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to launch his own probe into the officers' conduct, civil rights activist Rev. Kevin McCall told CBS Nford Rubenstein, Gayle's lawyer, didn't respond to a request for comment from The Sun.In a statement to the 

news station, he said the video shows "that the era of stop and frisk is not over in New York City."

"The police officers involved in this brutal assault must be brought to justice," Rubenstein said.