14 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 30, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Protesters demand answers from NYPD
following incidents at Bayside protests
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Bayside’s Black Lives Matter protesters
gathered outside of the 111th Precinct on
Sunday, July 26, calling for answers following
incidents that took place when a
pro-police rally and a BLM group faced
off at Crocheron Park two weeks ago,
including one in which a woman with
the BLM group was slapped in the face by
an unidentifi ed man wearing an “NYPD”
shirt.
Kristen McManu, 37, was that woman.
She attended Sunday’s protest at the 111th
Precinct, located at 45-06 215th St., and
said she hasn’t heard from the police more
than a week aft er she fi led a report about
the assault.
“Th rough the community board in
Bayside, I was told that what happened to
me is not an arrestable off ense. Th e captain
told the community board that and
that they would not be pursuing anything,”
she said. “Th e captain had said
he would meet with me over a week ago
and I have yet to hear back. Th ey’ve done
nothing and they’re continuing to do
nothing.”
McManus, a Bayside resident, said
the last thing she heard from the 111th
Precinct was that “nobody was assigned”
to her case.
Following the incidents at Crocheron
Park, QNS sent the NYPD various emails
and made several phone calls with questions
regarding what happened. QNS has
followed up for a week, but each time, an
NYPD spokesperson has said “there are
no updates” about McManus’ case, and
can’t confi rm whether what happened to
her is or isn’t an arrestable off ense.
Protesters were met with barricades
along the vicinity of the 111th Precinct
on Sunday, with 215th Street closed off
to traffi c. Th roughout the almost three
hours of protesting, there were about 30
BLM demonstrators and 20 police offi cers
standingby the precinct.
Th e BLM group was joined by some
members of the Warriors in the Garden—
a collective of activists dedicated to nonviolent
protest throughout New York City
— who were also at the tumultuous protest
in Crocheron Park on July 12.
Video from that day shows one of their
members, 21-year-old Yacine Diallo, getting
beaten and arrested by several offi -
cers, including one wearing a white shirt.
He told QNS he didn’t even see it coming
and he was later charged with “inciting a
riot,” among other charges.
“Last time I was here at this police precinct,
we were waiting for one of our
group members to get out, because he got
charged with inciting a riot,” said a member
of Warriors in the Garden. “When she
was hit in the face, there’s literally a picture
of this right here … It’s crazy to me
that y’all have done nothing about this.”
At the small protest, there were teens,
adults and even some kids — one of
whom took to the bullhorn to ask, “Why
aren’t you protecting people?”
While some cars and buses honked in
support of the protest, there were a number
of shouts opposing it. One man in an
SUV stopped in the middle of the road to
yell profanities at the protesters — “you’re
all just a bunch of misfi ts,” he yelled —
and ran a red light. Protesters pointed out
to the onlooking police offi cers that he ran
a red light, but they didn’t react.
Yulia Pechenkina, 19, who grew up
in Bayside and recently moved to Long
Island, said she wanted to support the
protest at the 111th Precinct aft er seeing
the videos of McManus as well as another
protester with Warriors in the Garden
who got called a derogatory word by a
teacher in front of the precinct as they
waited for Diallo two weeks ago.
“I always thought there were racists
on Long Island, but not in Bayside,” said
Pechenkina, as she held a sign with a picture
of the man slapping McManus that
read, “Is it okay to assault another human
being if I’m wearing an NYPD shirt?
Asking for a ‘friend.’”
While the 111th Precinct has not
answered questions regarding the incidents
that took place two Sundays ago, a
few days following the events they posted
a pixelated photo of a protester on
Facebook, stating the suspect allegedly
removed “a victim’s cellphone” that
same day.
A similar altercation took place on July
12 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where propolice
and Black Lives Matter protesters
also faced off and resulted in a series of
violent moments including one in which
a man with the pro-police group punched
a woman with the BLM group. According
to Gothamist, the man was not arrested
even though police saw what happened.
When asked about the reported incidents
in Bayside, Queens City Councilman
Donovan Richards,chair of Committee on
Public Safety and the lead candidate for
Queens borough president, told QNS he’s
calling for the NYPD to “fi nd and charge”
the unidentifi ed man.
“We cannot have a ‘look the other way’
attitude when it comes to protecting our
public. Whether someone is pro-police or
not, they should face the consequences of
their actions. I am calling for the NYPD
to fi nd and charge the man who insulted
Kristen McManus,” Richards said. “From
what we’ve been told, body cam footage
was not recorded during the altercation.
Th at is a huge red fl ag. Body cam footage
should always remain on when an offi -
cer is engaging with the public and in the
fi eld. What we see here is unacceptable on
so many levels.”
Photos by Dean Moses
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