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A video that shows NYPD officers punching a suspect while attempting to make an arrest went viral earlier in the week — but now police have released footage that shows the violence that led up to that altercation.

According to police, the incident began around 6 p.m. Tuesday when officers saw a man smoking in the South Ferry subway station in Lower Manhattan. Officers told him that was not allowed, and they tried to escort him out of the station — but they say he spit in a cop's face along the way.

Immediately after, police said he punched an officer in the face and headbutted another. Both the officers and the suspect fell down the stairs at the station, and then the man once again punched an officer, police said.