A disturbing video that shows an under-clothed black woman in a wheelchair "harassed" by transit police has gone viral.
Richie Goldstein claims to have come across white members of the New Jersey Transit Police Department targeting a disabled seemingly homeless woman named Gina in Penn Station, Newark, on Saturday and uploaded three videos to social media to draw attention to the apparent injustice.
The footage went viral, collecting thousands of likes and retweets, and has been named as yet another example of "police brutality" and "ableism" by users on social media.
In one video, a visibly upset Gina is seen attempting to get away from a police officer as he holds the back of her chair outside of a McDonald's.
Surrounded by police, she leans down to pick up a parcel from the floor and screams "get off of me", desperately pulling her skirt over to maintain her dignity.
In another, she struggles to wheel her chair away as one officer stands in front of her, kicks her wheelchair to stop her going any further and tells her to "stop" what she's doing. "Stop nothing," she shouts back at him.
Goldstein has claimed that the transit police eventually "backed off" and called the emergency medical services. They then checked her over and let her go.
"After they backed off because we were filming, random Black people would walk right up in between the cops and this woman and ask 'Which way to the bathroom?', or something, just so they could shield her body with theirs for a few seconds. Not a single white person did anything," he wrote.
The video has been condemned by people on social media, who claim it is another example of the huge racial disparities when it comes to how US police treat people.
"This whole ordeal is totally uncalled for and they should get their badges taken away. You don't do that to ANYONE," wrote @Its_Ya_Boi_Ti, while @lindasalcfas commented saying: "This was so uncalled for."
However, others have questioned the video, asking for clear details about the situation. Twitter user @hotincleveland wrote: "Why were they interacting with her at all? Did they just start harassing her out of the blue? The context is unclear. All I see is her cussing up a storm and them treating her like she's a criminal."
Both Richie Goldstein and the New Jersey Transit Police Department have been contacted for comment and had not replied at the time this article was published.