BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Dozens of police offi cers aggressively
shoved a group of
mourners on Friday during a
vigil for Sarah Pitts, an assistant
district attorney who was
fatally struck by a bus driver
while riding her bike in Williamsburg
last week, according
to witnesses and video
from the scene.
“They tried to hit people and
knock people down literally
during a vigil — you have candles,
food on tables, happening
at the same time in the park.
It’s insane and it’s the usual
NYPD behavior,” said Manhattanite
Nate Brown, who posted
several videos of the confrontations
on Instagram.
Attendees of the Sept. 11
event at McCarren Park —
which also drew many Black
Lives Matter protesters and
safe streets advocates — say
that tensions between cops
and demonstrators boiled over
when one white-shirted offi cer
attempted to break through a
line of marchers, causing the
other Boys-in-Blue to follow
suit in a chaotic scene.
Michael J. Ayad, MD, PhD
Cerebrovascular Specialist
COURIER L 6 IFE, SEPT. 18-24, 2020
I was there, it’s true. On
top of that, after blocking people
from exiting, they came IN
to the park, towards the vigil
where candles were still being
cleaned up, and escalated into
this scuffl e:
AT A FUNERAL VIGIL pic.
twitter.com/8ln4DGwwDX
— The Other Bret (@WolfgangTowns)
September 12,
2020
One mourner lamented the
offi cers conduct, saying they
had behaved disrespectfully
toward people at the event,
which included Pitts’ family
members and children.
“It was just a pathetic show
of behavior, a waste of taxpayer’s
money,” said Jasmine Anderson.
“Playing guard like
you’re the overseers, it’s not
Protesters march down Myrtle Avenue. Photo by Caroline Ourso
necessary.”
Hundreds of mourners
dressed in white showed up for
the somber ceremony, which
started at Fort Greene Park’s
Prison Ship Martyrs Monument
before heading to McCarren
Park.
Pitts, 35, worked at Brooklyn
District Attorney Eric
Gonzalez’s offi ce and died after
a bus driver struck her
at the corner of Wythe Avenue
and Williamsburg Street
shortly after midnight on Sept.
7. She was active with Riders
for Rights, an organization of
cyclists that guided the thousands
of Black Lives Matter
protesters through city streets
this summer, and which helped
organize the vigil, according to
fellow advocates.
Friends and family shared
their memories of Pitts at the
vigil, which ended in a guided
meditation in the northern
Brooklyn lawn.
“She’s just so laid back,
she makes jokes, and she just
wants to put a smile on people’s
faces,” said Anderson, who
met Pitts at several protests
this summer. “She was really
a powerhouse, she really was,
she was just so majestic. I wish
I had the chance to get to know
her more and ride out with her
more.”
The police detail, which had
been trailing the demonstration,
formed a line around the
perimeter of the Williamsburg
park before advancing into the
greenspace at around 1 am —
the park’s offi cial closing time
— and aggressively attempted
to clear the area, shoving protesters
and eventually facing
off against a line of marchers
with bikes.
Vigil for slain
cyclist ends with
police aggression
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