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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JUNE 7, 2020
Cop car plows into protesters
during ‘disturbing’ confrontation
BY MARK HALLUM
Safe streets advocates
are slamming the New York
City Police Department after
footage from Brooklyn’s
George Floyd demonstrations
show a police cruiser
plowing through a crowd of
protesters on May 30.
What Mayor Bill de Blasio
described as demonstrators
surrounding the vehicle
was inexcusable to advocacy
groups like Families for Safe
Streets and Transportation
Alternatives, who each issued
statements alleging police
misconduct.
Video from the incident
shows protesters behind
barriers and in front of the
vehicle on Flatbush Avenue.
After objects such as traffi
c cones were hurled at the
SUV, the offi cer behind the
wheel hits the gas, plowing
through people.
Although nobody was
killed, the incident heightened
tensions between protesters
and police.
A still of an NYPD cruiser plowing through a crowd of demonstrators
along Flatbush Avenue. Twitter/@pgarapon
“Such brutal tactics, like
using 6,000-pound SUVs as
weapons against people,
must be immediately rooted
out of the NYPD,” Families
for Safe Streets Co-Founder
Amy Cohen said.
Though de Blasio said the
actions of the offi cers may
not have been in good judgment,
he believes the driver
may have taken whatever
action he could out of desperation.
“It’s inappropriate for
protesters to surround a police
vehicle and threaten police
offi cers. That’s wrong on
its face,” de Blasio said. “If a
police offi cer is in that situation,
they have to get out of
that situation.”
On May 31, de Blasio said
he would implement a review
of all NYPD offi cers’
actions over the weekend in
conjunction with the Corporation
Counsel and the city’s
Department of Investigation.
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