The NYPD cops seen on camera driving into a group of protesters in Brooklyn late last month did not violate the department’s use-of-force policy, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday.
Shea was asked about the May 30 incident by New York Attorney General Letitia James in an online public hearing on police encounters during the George Floyd protests.
“Was that in violation of your use of force policy?” she asked.
Shea answered: “No.”
“Our internal affairs bureau investigated this information and preliminarily we have an accounting of that incident where we have officers in a situation where they’re essentially being penned in by protesters,” the top cop added.
James then asked, “So in that particular instance, is it your testimony that … the police car was an appropriate use of force?”
“I’m not saying that the police car was used as a use of force,” Shea said. “The officers were set upon and attacked, and thankfully they were able to get out of that situation with, to my knowledge, no injuries to anyone.”
Video of the incident had shown dozens of protesters pressing a metal barricade against a police vehicle and throwing bottles at it — before another NYPD SUV rammed into the group, knocking some to the ground.
Mayor Bill de Blasio at the time called the encounter “troubling,” but added, “if those protesters had just gotten out of the way and not created an attempt to surround that vehicle, we would not be talking about this situation.”
The clip also caught the eye of Queens-Bronx Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called for the cops behind the wheel to be “brought to justice.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has tasked James with probing how the NYPD handled the recent demonstrations.
During public hearings last week, dozens of protesters recounted their interactions, including Dounya Zayer, who was called a “bitch” and shoved to the ground by a cop in a now-viral moment.
The officer, Vincent D’Andraia, has since been suspended without pay and charged criminally in the incident.
