An Occupy City Hall protester smacked an on-duty Post reporter in the face with a 2-by-4 on Sunday — in view of dozens of NYPD cops, who didn’t lift a finger to help, and even refused to take a complaint of the crime.
The journalist, Kevin Sheehan, was using his cell phone to shoot video of the demonstration — once hundreds of people strong but now reduced to around 50 camping out in crude, tarp-topped tents — from a public street across a metal barrier when one protester took exception.
“Put the f–king camera down!” sneered the not-so-peaceful demonstrator as he swung a wooden board at Sheehan multiple times, knocking his phone to the pavement and striking him in the face.
Many within the encampment snickered, while one woman could be heard calling, “All right, all right!” as though to break up the 11:15 a.m. run-in.
“You guys saw that, right?” asked Sheehan of the approximately 30 NYPD cops gathered around keeping watch over the protest — which began last month to call for a reduction of up to $1 billion in funding to the department.
But none of the cops so much as moved in the direction of the attack, as the man responsible, wearing a Brooklyn Nets T-shirt bearing Kyrie Irving’s number 11, disappeared into the encampment.
Sheehan, who was left with a swollen lip and a headache, began to walk away from the demonstration, only to notice that his assailant had reappeared and was trailing him from across the barrier penning the protesters in.
Again feeling threatened, Sheehan crossed the street to a group of about eight officers, identified himself as a reporter with NYPD-issued credentials and tried to report the attack.
One officer told Sheehan that unless he had any physical marks, “It’s not assault, it’s harassment.”
When the reporter then tried to file a harassment complaint, a higher-ranking cop in a white uniform signaled that he wanted to speak with one of the protesters.
They had a brief chat out of Sheehan’s earshot before the cop sent the demonstrator back into the pen.
“We’re finding out what we’re going to do,” the cop told Sheehan, but offered no further updates.
Warning: Graphic Language
An NYPD spokeswoman said that Sheehan left the area before cops could give him further guidance for filing a harassment report.
“The officer asked him if he was injured. He said no. The officer asked if wanted to make a harassment report. He said he said he had to check with his bosses,” the spokeswoman claimed.
The spokeswoman claimed that before the cop could get back to Sheehan, the reporter “was gone.”
Sheehan, who continued to be verbally threatened by the protesters while the cops conferred, said that he ultimately moved a short distance away after, “The cops basically ignored me.”
He disputed the quote police attributed to him and said he never declined to file a report.
The NYPD spokeswoman did not respond to a question about why cops didn’t intervene or move to arrest the antagonist during the initial attack.
Cops got an earful in their own right from the protesters earlier Sunday morning.
“Yo ladies, I want to f–k you!” a half-dozen male protesters catcalled two female officers. “Yo babe, you a cop and I gotta f–k that s–t.”
When asked about the comments, the group insisted, “We’re not harassing them, we’re giving them compliments.”
The cops stood their ground, but were visibly rattled by the remarks.
“We can’t comment, sir,” said one of the female officers, while wearing a pained smile and with watery eyes.
When three of the protesters then moved in to the cops at close range, the officers retreated further away.
The protest began with the stated goal of putting pressure on lawmakers to support a $1 billion cut from the NYPD’s $6 billion budget.
Despite a significant reduction delivered in the new fiscal year budget on June 30, some have refused to pull up stakes from the Lower Manhattan park.
A tourist who called himself “sympathetic” to the national outcry against police brutality said that he was dismayed by the “shocking” scene.
“The rebellious nature of the people there, the signs, the verbiage — ‘Kill the pigs!’ — and so on,” said Dennis Turnquist, a 26-year-old mortgage underwriter visiting from Elgin, Illinois.
“I don’t think this is the protest,” said Turnquist. “They’re working under the guise of the protest.”