On Monday, the Detectives Endowment Association (DEA) for the NYPD shared a video of one of their officers getting attacked while investigating a robbery in Queens. Trouble is, many believe the video is a staged stunt.

Welcome to NYC!

Even as our Detectives investigate crimes they’re attacked by emboldened criminals, who have quickly realized there are no consequences for law breakers in our city.

The DEA is calling for this violence to be fully prosecuted as we look to file civil charges. pic.twitter.com/3FuiBEEcE1

— Detectives' Endowment Association (@NYCPDDEA) April 26, 2021

In the video, an NYPD officer holding a clipboard is looking at a crime scene when a black assailant hits him with a stick. The assailant steadily backs away until he begins getting chased by cops off camera.

"Even as our Detectives investigate crimes they’re attacked by emboldened criminals, who have quickly realized there are no consequences for law breakers in our city," wrote the NYPD DEA.

Several elements of the video have some viewers believing the video is a staged attempt to elicit sympathy for the police, who have faced increasing pushback from the city's populace after last summer's George Floyd Protests. For starters, it seemed strange that what amounts to a routine crime scene investigation would be filmed by an onlooker, and stranger further that an assailant would assault a police officer in broad daylight while he's coincidentally being filmed. The apparent lack of urgency with which the assailant fled the scene and the lack of urgency the cops seemed to have in pursuing him also struck viewers as strange.

I cannot believe my taxes pay for this middle school video project ass fake bullshit

— Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta) April 27, 2021

a criminal's worst nightmare: you go to lightly slap a stranger with one of your two canes and it turns out they are an NYPD detective who is being filmed for absolutely no reason, and then an officer breaks into a sort of light jog after you https://t.co/A3Fi5ZimUk

— Law Boy, Esq. (@The_Law_Boy) April 27, 2021

Oh man this is so sad, luckily this detective just randomly happened to be filmed getting tapped with a stick so we can catch that criminal https://t.co/B7Abea5zW1

— robert smith enjoyer (@willlhellm) April 27, 2021

I hate it when I'm filming my fellow sworn officer writing in a notebook and out of nowhere a dangerous criminal very lightly taps him on shoulder causing him to collapse and die instantly after which we jog very lightly after the perp as he absconds. https://t.co/BiQcfmYBKe

— luke (@lukeoneil47) April 27, 2021

The video also spawned some pretty great parodies, as users edited it to heighten its staged feel.

Hold on guys here's some better quality footage pic.twitter.com/bYJT6pMwWK

— _{ne0n dem0n} (@luxoper0n) April 27, 2021

By @itsjonmackey pic.twitter.com/zJZvjUWODZ

— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) April 27, 2021

Still, despite the general suspicion of the video's truthfulness, it's impossible to know if the incident is staged or not. An informal investigation by Katie Way uncovered that the clip was taken from a report by Chinese news outlet Sinovision (and can be viewed here), which, in her estimation, at least explains the presence of a camera.

Sowing further seeds of doubt is the NYPD's history of allegedly exaggerating stories of police sabotage to the amusement of social media. Last summer, another NYPD police union, the PBA, alleged that Shake Shack had intentionally poisoned officers after two cops noticed their milkshakes tasted funny. It turned out that they had gotten the first shakes after the machine had been cleaned. The NYPD later cleared Shake Shack and its employees of any wrongdoing in the matter. Last week, the NYPD alleged a suspect had thrown Molotov cocktails at them and showed a picture of the alleged Molotov that also had Twitter suspect of their story.

1) it's not lit 2) it's in a plastic bottle 3) it's wedged perfectly in the hood there https://t.co/1E6rOYpJd0

— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) April 19, 2021