N.J. Burkett

QUEENS, N.Y. (WABC) -- A man claims he was pepper-sprayed during an encounter with the New York City Police Department, even though he said he wasn't resisting arrest.

Stefon Luckey was outside a deli on Farmer's Boulevard in the St. Albans section of Queens, when officers stopped his brother for an illegal turn. Luckey said when he asked officers about it, they told him to back off and Luckey said he did, walking into the deli.

But officers followed him inside and tried to arrest him, he said. He asked why he was being arrested, but Luckey said he was not resisting arrest. Surveillance video from inside the deli shows Luckey staggering, temporarily blinded after he said he was hit with pepper spray at the hands of one of the officers.

The video appears to show Luckey pleading with officers before one of them sprays him with pepper spray. Stunned, he seems to stagger. Seconds later, an officer returns and sprays him twice more, then Luckey puts his hands behind his back and is handcuffed.

Then, the officer appears to spray him once more in the eyes. "To be pepper sprayed, violated," he said. "I wasn't resisting arrest."

Fred Rosenberg, plaintiff's attorney, acknowledges that the video is silent. But the situation, he claims, is obvious. Luckey has pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, police said. The officers are assigned to the 113th Precinct. The NYPD did not comment any further on the case.

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