6
QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 28, 2020
Shea testifi es in defense of NYPD’s use
of force during George Floyd protests
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.
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.
Dermot Shea took office as NYPD Commissioner on Dec. 1. Photo by Mark Hallum
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