columbia student racially targeted by police?

Heard about this recent incident at Columbia University, in which NYPD apparently racially targeted an Asian American student and used excessive force for a simple infraction... According to witnesses, Garam Sohn was holding an open beer can when he was stopped by police. When he failed to produce identification, police handcuffed Sohn, threw him to the ground, and put him into the back of a police car: Police, Students In Confrontation Over Arrest. A witness says Sohn wasn't physically resisting or acting in a violent manner. Another witness noted that while police were questioning Sohn, two white students walked by carrying 40s. The officers instructed the students to cover their drinks with brown paper bags, but didn't detain them. Where's the ID check there? What's up with that?

As the incident progressed, a crowd gathered and the officers called for backup. One of the officers apparently said to crowd—of mostly Asian students—"Have you had too much sake tonight?" And when a student asked an officer why Sohn was being detained, the cop responded, "Do you understand English?" Yes, these are officers of the law who are allegedly sworn to protect us. That's racist! Here's a public statement released last week by Columbia's Asian American Alliance::

We, the Columbia University Asian American Alliance (AAA), acknowledge that on Friday, September 14th an incident occurred on 114th street and Broadway between officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and an Asian American student. Many accounts – including Monday's Columbia Spectator article – point to evidence of excessive force and racial bias among the officers of the NYPD against the student.

If the details concerning the police's racial overtones and the excessive use of force are true, we condemn this abuse of authority by the NYPD officers present.

Furthermore, if racial discrimination was indeed committed by those officers, AAA will take the necessary steps to move towards dialogue and action that will make these issues clear to the student body and general public.

Finally, we acknowledge that this incident may represent a larger problem within the NYPD and its treatment of people of color in New York City. In response to this, AAA would like to mobilize with other groups in the NYC area and student organizations on campus to take measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

AAA recognizes that the student involved in this incident clearly violated New York State's zero-tolerance policy of drinking in public. However, AAA believes that regardless of the crime, the NYPD should not under any circumstances practice racial bias or excessive use of force.

Not sure what further action has been taken, if any, by anyone involved. The Asian American Alliance posted a few updates on its blog last week, though information on the incident has sort of been overshadowed by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Columbia (understandably). Hopefully we'll see some follow-up...