An NYPD Officer Gets Transferred After His Rant at an Uber Driver Goes Viral

A police detective from the New York City Police Department has been transferred and put on modified assignment after a video of him haranguing an Uber driver went viral this week, USA Today reports.

The detective, later identified as Patrick Cherry from NYPD’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, seems to become incensed after an Uber driver honked at him for not signaling during a parking attempt.

Cherry was reportedly in an unmarked car at the time.

In what appears to be a video of the encounter, released by Uber passenger Sanjay Seth, the detective is heard hurling invective and taking a jab at the Uber driver’s perceived foreignness with the question “How long you been in this country?”

“People are allowed to park their cars on the side of the street without your interference and then your opinion about what’s going on, especially when the person you do it to are the police,” the detective says. “I don’t know where you’re coming from,” Cherry adds. “The only reason you’re not in handcuffs going to jail is because I have things to do.”

The NYPD moved quickly to distance itself from Cherry.

“In any encounter, discourtesy and obscene language like that is unacceptable. That officer’s behavior reflected poorly on everyone who wears our uniform,” said NYPD Police Commissioner William J. Bratton.

Uber later released a statement saying “The behavior in the video is wrong and unacceptable and we appreciate the NYPD investigating the incident.”