It's being reported today that a New York police officer was indicted, accused of punching a man while attempting to remove him from the Apple store on the Upper West Side, where he was reportedly harassing customers.

Officer Salvatore Provenzano responded to the Apple store at 1981 Broadway on Oct. 19, 2021, on a report of a person bothering customer.

The person had a history of harassing shoppers and authorities say the man was banned from the store but was once again causing mayhem.

Provenzano and other officers assigned to the 20th Precinct talked to the man for 40 minutes and tried to reason with him.

As the store was closing for the night, Provenzano tried to escort him out and grabbed the man's right arm and pulled away.

"When the individual pulled out of the defendant's grasp and turned toward the exit, the defendant struck the individual on the left side of his face, court documents said.

"I want to speak to the people here in Manhattan, especially our business owners, whether you own a large business or small business, you need to lock your doors to repeat offenders, those who repeatedly steal from you, those who repeatedly harass and assault your staff," Hendry said. "Those individuals who cause mayhem and destroy your stores and force your customers to leave. DA Bragg is not on your side. He's on the side of the repeat offenders and you need to close your doors, you cannot try to remove someone from your store, you cannot try to remove a shoplifter from your store, a disorderly from your store because you will be arrested. And when you call 911 for that police officer to protect you, that police officer will be arrested and will be indicted."

Source: New York, ABC Eyewitness News