Andre Perry is 32 years old. He's a commercial photographer, lives in Brooklyn, and loves fashion. He's also black. A month ago, Perry was stopped at a subway station by an undercover officer with the New York City Police Department. He was interrogated about his two-finger ring, arrested, and charged with possession of a deadly weapon—"metal knuckles."
"I'm not saying those are your intentions, but you could hurt somebody with this," the arresting officer says in a video recorded by Perry on his cell phone. Still, Perry was given the additional charge of "intent to injure." The crime carries penalties from a community service to a year in jail on Rikers Island.
"I was transferring trains at the Union Square. Walking from one platform to the other, I stopped to take a photo to post to Instagram," says Perry. "Out of nowhere, two guys approached me and started asking what I had on, pointing to my hand. I told them it was a ring."
That's when he says the plainclothes cops showed him their badges and he immediately started recording the interaction using his cell phone. Over the course of the two-and-a-half-minute video, Officer Jonathan Correa informs Perry that he's wearing a weapon, frisks him and escorts him to a precinct. The video ends just after the officer places Perry in handcuffs.
