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Video Claims to Show Cop Aiming Gun at Kids After Snowball Fight

A bystander captured footage that appears to show a police officer pointing his pistol at a a group of young men on a snowy street in a New York City suburb.
Image via YouTube

A police officer allegedly held a group of youths at gunpoint who were having a snowball fight in New Rochelle, New York, a suburb located about 15 miles north of Manhattan.

A bystander captured video footage that appears to show the tail end of the incident. The recording shows an officer aiming his pistol at a young man kneeling beside a mound of snow on a suburban street in broad daylight.

"Don't fucking move, guys," the officer tells the small group of boys.

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As the youths comply with the cop's order, a witness — possibly the person recording the video — says, "they were just having a snowball fight." The officer frisked the kneeling boys and seemed to find no weapons or contraband.

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The teens did not appear armed in the footage, but sources told local news site Talk of the Sound that police were responding to reports of a person with a gun. Other witnesses told the site people had called complaining about a domestic disturbance from a snowball fight.

The New Rochelle Police Department declined to comment Sunday because they told VICE News no appropriate representative was available.

A second video captured the police asking the group to "get up and move along" after frisking them, Talk of the Sound reported.

The incident, which reportedly occurred Wednesday after a winter storm inundated the Northeast with snowfall, followed a local debate over placing body cameras on cops and providing adequate training for New Rochelle officers.

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Branson has reportedly been pushing for such measures in the aftermath of the Eric Garner and Michael Brown grand jury decisions.

Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter: @merhoffman