Shea testifi es on NYPD’s use of force during protests
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020 11
Instances of rocks
and bricks being
thrown at police officers
was something
Shea stressed throughout
his testimony. He
claimed that those incident
are substantiated
by the medical record
of cops injured over
the course of the riots,
which he said was not
available as of Monday.
Shea brushed off
an instance in which a
food delivery worker,
deemed essential and
exempt from the curfew,
being arrested which
was caught on video and
widely circulated as a
“false report.” As to the
AG’s question regarding
protesters being injured
by NYPD in the process
of not being arrested
and not receiving medical
attention, Shea did
not answer the question
directly.
When asked what the
protocol is for providing
medical attention to
those in holding, Shea
responded with the simple
request that James
send specific examples
to his office.
Shea argued that a
number of actions taken
by NYPD officers have
been met with disciplinary
measures, but the
matter of a cop flashing
a white supremacist
symbol was yet another
matter deferred due to
what he claims as more
information needed.
“That should be an
off the record conversation
because we don’t
have all the details,”
Shea said.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at
mhallum@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4564.
BY MARK HALLUM
After 17 hours of prior
testimony over a
litany of alleged police
abuses of protesters
following the death of
George Floyd, state Attorney
General Letitia
James began yet another
hearing on June 22
as part of the investigation
into these matters,
with Police Commissioner
Dermot Shea as
the star witness.
Anything from the
use of excessive force
against peaceful protesters,
covering badge
numbers and abuse
against members of the
press were on the table
for Shea’s questioning
segment. He used his
time to highlight attacks
on NYPD property
being damaged and
400 injured cops in the
opening remarks.
Specifically mentioned
by Shea, the
May 29 demonstrations,
which he said were
meant to be peaceful,
turned anything but
as the sun went down.
Police vehicles were
torched while looting
and burglarizing continued
in Lower Manhattan
and Brooklyn
for several days.
“I can tell you that
what we learned almost
immediately from the
Thursday night May
28 protests that carried
on right into Friday
and Saturday that
these protests were
different. They were
almost immediately
from the beginning,
from word that I got
back from executives at
the scene, the main difference
was that these
were violent,” Shea
said. “These were different
in the context of
the protesters and inclusion
of outside agitators
and the almost
immediate throwing
of bottles, bricks and
things of that nature.”
Shea declined to
substantiate his own
claims of the prevalence
of “outside agitators,”
a narrative
Mayor Bill de Blasio
attempted to establish
early on in a period of
unrest. Police arrested
up to 40 protesters the
night of May 28, and
as the demonstrations
continued on, the number
of arrests grew into
the hundreds.
“We recognized
that this is a moment
in time unlike any
other and we exercised
extreme discretion,”
Shea said of the moral
conundrum faced by
city leaders of putting a
curfew in place.
Shea disputed the
commonplace use of
pepper spray during
the protests, based on
prior testimony, and
said he could not comment
on the video of an
NYPD officer pulling
down the face mask of a
protester and blasting
him in the face.
Dermot Shea took office as NYPD Commissioner on Dec.
1. Photo by Mark Hallum
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