NYPD Under Scrutiny After Videos Show Officers Pulling Protester Into Unmarked Van

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The New York City Police Department has come under scrutiny after videos showed officers pulling a protester into an unmarked van during a demonstration Tuesday in Manhattan against racism and police brutality.

The Gothamist, citing the protester’s friends, identified her as an 18-year-old transgender woman. Videos shared on social media show the demonstrator being restrained by several NYPD officers before being pulled into the van.

“They grabbed [her] like she was rag doll,” a protester and witness told The Gothamist. “They had her arms on her neck and then they drove off.”

Link to tweet

?s=20

The NYPD said in a statement that the woman had been arrested after “damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents” in and around City Hall Park.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/nypd-protester-unmarked-van-video-043354729.html

[FreeState]

1. Horrifying #TransLivesMatter n/t

[unblock]

2. even if the nypd allegations are completely true, that's not how you arrest someone for vandalism.

[crickets]

6. IKR? Unmarked, armed, driving a minivan, grabbing a woman off the street at a protest.

Until the bike cops showed up, who knew wth was happening? There are other ways to arrest people, even those who don't want to be arrested, without resorting to this level of nonsense.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents?

Okay so why didn't uniformed police officers show up with an arrest warrant and arrest her.

[hack89]

5. Undercover warrant squads have been the norm in most cities for decades.

makes it easier to track down people that don't want to be found.

[unblock]

7. for petty vandalism?

i mean, for mob hitmen, sure, but....

[hack89]

8. For everything

and do you know the actual charges or is "petty" just your opinion?

[unblock]

10. not actually sure what the dollar threshold is

also not sure they add it up across multiple incidents. maybe 5 counts of petty vandalism amounts to a felony charge.

regardless, that kind of treatment doesn't seem in line with that kind of property damage.

[hack89]

9. They have her on video destroying multiple cameras

Not petty by any stretch of the imagination.

[unblock]

11. i don't know what the line actually is, but damage to cameras seems pretty minor.

maybe it is technically a felony, i don't know.

i don't know what kind of cameras they are, and perhaps there's something special about them that makes them more expensive than most, but 5 police body cameras can easily be had for under $1,000.

in any event, it's not like vandalizing a multi-million dollar piece of machinery or something.

or an actual act of violence, which might make a more violent arrest at least seem plausible....

[hack89]

13. They were permanently mounted city surveillance cameras.

What happens is what happens everyday in major cities. Warrant squads go out with a long list of people to pick up. That is what happened to her.

[unblock]

14. lovely.

[hack89]

15. Many on those lists are violent criminals

Getting people with outstanding warrants off the streets as quickly as possible is truly a matter of public safety.

[unblock]

16. but lumping them in with the same tactic as someone who might have vandalized some cameras

is exactly the problem.

look, if there's a rapist armed with knives and guns running around loose in manhattan, and they haven't been able to find them at their home or place of work, but they are able to locate them walking down the street, sure. i'd still prefer blatantly clear police identification, but sure, i get that those people need to be arrested and pulling up in a van and quickly nabbing them might be best.

but for vandalism, it's completely ridiculous. should they also do that for a few unpaid parking tickets? c'mon.


btw, the police identification is at least as much for the protection of those making the arrest as for others. if someone shot one of the arresting people, thinking it was instead a gang or mob or terrorist group making an illegal kidnapping with zero government authority, i'd have to say i would have trouble coming to a guilty verdict were i on the jury where the shooter was charged with murder.

[hack89]

17. Ok. nt

[bluestarone]

12. Am i wrong thinking that the charges WILL NOT stick BECAUSE

Of how the victim was arrested? EVEN IF she did what they said, the arrest was probably ILLEGAL? Just thinking it doesn't look like the American way to arrest someone!