Video footage posted online this week shows a New York City police officer throwing a skateboarder to the ground, putting him in a headlock and pepper-spraying him.
Queens resident Yibin Mu, 22, told DNAinfo he was skateboarding in Columbus Circle on Sunday when the incident took place.
"I was just skating around, killing some time," Mu told the site. "I saw this police officer approaching. I got off my board to ask him [if I could skate] and the first thing he did was reach for my board."
Mu said he refused to give his skateboard to the officer, who then grabbed him.
NYPD Detective Brian Sessa told HuffPost that it is illegal to skateboard in Columbus Circle. He said Mu was arrested for refusing to show the officer his ID, and that officers have received "numerous complaints" in the past about the man skateboarding.
The incident is under internal investigation, Sessa added.
Mu could not be immediately reached for comment.
Video of the incident, which Mu posted on his Facebook page on Monday, shows the officer pulling Mu's head back by his hair before putting him in a headlock. After tackling Mu, the officer pulls out his pepper spray and shoots it in the skateboarder's face.
"What did I do wrong?" Mu can be heard asking. He later shouts, "I'm not resisting!"
"Here we go again," a bystander says in the background.
Mu was charged with resisting arrest, disobeying park rules and defacing park property, according to DNAinfo, which noted that the man is seeking a lawyer to represent him.
"Overabuse of power as always!" Mu wrote on his Facebook page. "I'm so over the injustices so many people face in this country. Social, economic, race, class, everything!"