A veteran NYPD officer was indicted this week on misconduct charges linked to two on-duty clashes with civilians in Brooklyn – including a tense caught-on-video stand-off with a bystander who confronted the cop for wild driving, prosecutors said.
Quran McPhatter, 42 – who joined the department in 2005, according to online records – was arraigned Tuesday on a 13-count indictment charging him with assault, official misconduct, attempted assault, attempted coercion and menacing, the DA’s office said.
In the first incident, a passerby spotted McPhatter, who was assigned to the 72nd Precinct, driving “unsafely through a crowded area” of Sunset Park on 41st Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues around 6:45 p.m. Aug. 3, 2025, prosecutors said.
“If you’re familiar, you know it’s full of kids, people, dogs, everyone walking around,” the victim, photographer A.B. Youssef, said of the incident in a video shared on Instagram. “This one cop was driving like a maniac. I called him out for it. He started screaming at everybody to mind their business. So I demanded his badge number, and you can see what happens next.”
The clip then cuts to the Youssef demanding Phatter to provide his badge number – but the enraged cop instead swung open his car door, bumping the man, before spraying pepper spray at the ground and driving off.
Tensions peaked when Youssef then showed up at the 72nd Precinct station house, looking to speak to a supervisor about what had happened and file a complaint, he said.
Suddenly, McPhatter appeared and confronted the civilian, who again asked for his badge number, the video shows.
“I’m not giving you nothing,” McPhatter snapped, according to the clip. “Get out of my precinct.”
McPhatter also pressed his chest up against Youssef’s – until the men were separated by a sergeant and other officers, according to the clip and the DA’s office.
He then threatened to “knock out” the victim and told him to wait outside, prosecutors charged.
“This man put his body physically on my body and was pushing me out of the building,” Youssef said in the video. “I did nothing wrong except demand that he identify himself.”
The second incident came on Oct. 24 when McPhatter and his partner responded to a 60-year-old man allegedly trespassing at a building on 58th Street near First Avenue and told him to leave the area, prosecutors said.
When the cops found the trespasser still there a half-hour later, McPhatter arrested him, allegedly berated him and threw him against the patrol car twice, the DA’s office said.
As the handcuffed man, sitting in the back seat, antagonized McPhatter – who was driving – the officer reached back and snatched his glasses off his face, according to prosecutors.
Once they arrived at the 72nd Precinct, McPhatter allegedly called the suspect a “big dummy” in front of the desk sergeant – and slapped the detained man in the face when he responded, the DA’s office said.
The sergeant immediately took McPhatter off the case, and the arrested man was taken to NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, where he was treated and released.
During McPhatter’s Tuesday arraignment, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Chu released him without bail and ordered him to return to court March 26.
“Instead of using the de-escalation techniques NYPD officers are trained to employ, this defendant allegedly assaulted a person in custody and threatened a civilian who complained,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Trust between law enforcement and the public is essential to sustaining the hard-won gains that have driven homicide and gun violence in Brooklyn to record lows, and we will not allow an officer’s alleged misconduct to put our progress at risk.”
“No one is above the law, and we will seek to hold him accountable through this prosecution.”
During his tenure with the NYPD, McPhatter had eight substantiated allegations against him, according to online records from the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.
McPhatter is currently suspended without pay, the NYPD said. Reps for McPhatter couldn’t immediately be reached.