A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer or officers ran into a group organized to protest the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on Saturday night in Brooklyn.
The incident occurred just after 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the Prospect Heights neighborhood.
In video posted online, protestors can be seen gathered on one side of a barricade. Several protesters then approached and threw various items at the parked police SUV. For a few moments, the police vehicle remained stopped on the other side of the barricade.
Another police vehicle pulled up. Then, the officer(s) inside the SUV hit the accelerator and plunged through the barricade and into the throng of assembled protestors.
A massive wail of screams broke out.
The person filming the incident dropped the camera after the incident.
Another video showed an overhead angle which appeared to depict protesters moving a portable metal barricade shortly before the police SUV accelerated toward them.
Wtf!!! #BlacklivesMaters #brooklynprotest pic.twitter.com/S1oet8JC0x
— Pierre Garapon (@pgarapon) May 31, 2020
The response from critics of the police was all-but instantaneous:
This an approved tactic @NYCMayor? https://t.co/1DbSDQi7Af
— Sam Adler-Bell (@SamAdlerBell) May 31, 2020
What the fuck https://t.co/p44YPyNl6r
— Paul Blest (@pblest) May 31, 2020
holy shit https://t.co/uZtx5Seggr
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) May 31, 2020
NYPD just tried to kill protesters, bluechecks https://t.co/a1I27pS1e3
— Sara Byrella مرگ بر آمريكا 🐯🦄🐻 (@umbyrella) May 31, 2020
I have seen dozens of videos showing police acting like absolute psychos in these protests. Not sure why that isn’t the leading story today: That the cops are proving themselves to be monstrous goons. https://t.co/pyrjf3pm0N
— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) May 31, 2020
Law&Crime reached out the NYPD for comment on this story, but no response was forthcoming at the time of publication.
[image via screengrab/Marco Francesco]
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