A city peace officer got suspended without pay for using handcuffs to wallop a homeless woman who had just bit her — and her union says the punishment is an overreaction to the recent viral video of a baby being ripped from his mom’s arms by cops in a Brooklyn welfare office.
Surveillance video obtained by The Post shows Department of Homeless Services Officer Tiffany Randolph swinging the cuffs at Olivia Morphis after the out-of-control woman chomped down on her wrist during a Dec. 21 melee at the 30th Street Intake Center in Manhattan.
Photos shot afterward clearly show a full, red bite mark on Randolph’s skin.
The three-year city worker was forced to take prescription medication so she wouldn’t get sick from the bite, while Morphis, 19, was slapped with a summons for disorderly conduct.
Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd said DHS officers tried in vain to get the NYPD to charge Morphis with felony assault.
He blamed the stunning outcome on City Hall’s response to the flood of bad publicity unleashed by the earlier, caught-on-camera incident in Brooklyn.
Mayor de Blasio publicly blamed two Human Resources Administration officers for letting the Dec. 7 situation get “out of hand” when Jazmine Headley, 23, allegedly refused orders to stop sitting on the floor when there were no chairs available.
“They are making a hard-working peace officer, injured in the line of duty, a scapegoat,” Floyd said of Randolph.
“After the HRA fiasco and scandal, another peace officer is being used as a diversion from the real problems at these agencies. That’s the way they do it in this administration.”
On Dec. 18, a man invoked the Brooklyn incident when he flipped out inside an HRA jobs center in the Inwood section of Manhattan, screaming, “This ain’t f–cking Brooklyn!” before he allegedly broke the hand of an HRA captain during a scuffle.
According to sources familiar with the alleged Dec. 21 dental attack, Morphis — who’s been in and out of various shelters — refused to remove her jacket for a security screening and began swearing and threatening an officer.
“I don’t care, I will f–k him up, you fake-ass cop!” she allegedly screamed at one point.
When several officers tried to arrest her for disorderly conduct, Morphis allegedly grabbed Randolph’s left hand and bit her, prompting the officer to swing her other hand — holding the cuffs — to free her wrist from Morphis’ jaw.
Morphis was eventually subdued when another officer used pepper spray on her, sources said.
Homeless Services spokesman Isaac McGinn said that Randolph was suspended because she “was observed striking the woman inappropriately.”
Both McGinn and NYPD spokesman Phil Walzak said the matter remained under investigation by their agencies.
Additional reporting by Stephanie Pagones