Video: CCTV shows police battering homeless man later charged with assault

Ehud Halevi, who was attempting to sleep in a Jewish youth centre in Brooklyn. New York, argued briefly with two police officers who came to remove him after a security guard reported his presence.

According to reports Halevi had previously been given permission to stay at the centre overnight.

Reports say Halevi, was told to put his arms behind his back, which he can been seen to do in the video, before he moves his arms to the front as the officer attempts to handcuff him.

The video shows one of the officers immediately adopting a conventional boxing stance, not commonly used by police, before unleashing a series of brutal punches.

Halevi is pushed onto a sofa and is subjected to a brutal onslaught of blows.

A female officer, also in attendance, appears to pepper spray the prone man and hit him with a truncheon.

Halevi was charged with assaulting a police officer, trespassing, resisting arrest and harassment.

Image via YouTube