Conflicting reports in cop involved confrontation

(Broad Channel - WABC, November 1, 2006) (WABC) -- A confrontation in the Broad Channel section of Queens on Tuesday night is now under investigation. Witnesses say a New York cop flew into a rage with his baton and attacked two people who threw eggs at the officer's unmarked police car.

Could half a dozen eyewitnesses be wrong? They claim that the undercover New York City police officer went on a rampage with a metal baton. But the NYPD say the officer was attacked.

Witnesses told Eyewitness News officer flew into a rage after eggs struck his unmarked cruiser outside a corner deli on Cross Bay Boulevard.

One woman we spoke to said her sister was beaten for no obvious reason: "He was beating my sister ... she was running in the streets ... beating her with a baton ... nobody knew who he was."

Moments later she said he attacked a teenage boy.

"And he went and hit the kid, knocked the kid down ... he was on the floor and I was screaming please stop, stop. I go what's the problem ... he just kept beating him," she said.

Neighbors say both, the 44-year-old woman and teenage boy, were rushed to Peninsula Hospital.

The NYPD said the officer was assigned to the 100th Precinct. The owner of the deli said portions of the incident were captured on two surveillance cameras. Police have seized the tapes.

But neighbors say they know what they saw and they're furious.

"The kid was doing nothing ...he had his hands up ... and he hit him across the head with the baton ... It's disgusting, outrages," a witness told us.

The NYPD released a statement with an entirely different version of this story. Police say the black undercover officer was attacked from in behind, punched and taunted with racial slurs, then someone threw an egg at his unmarked patrol car.

Four people are under arrest and facing charges on starting a riot, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Police say they are looking for a fifth suspect.

This morning, the two people who had been hospitalized have since been released.

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