NYPD under fire after videos show cops pulling teen protester into unmarked van

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The NYPD was highly criticized earlier after videos surfaced showing plainclothes officers pulling a young protester into an unmarked van during a rally in Manhattan on Tuesday.
• What made the incident more alarming is that the videos posted on several social media platforms were captioned “kidnapped” and “snatched up.” 
• In a statement, the NYPD said that the protester had been arrested after “damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents” in and around City Hall Park.

The New York City Police Department has been highly criticized after videos showed officers pulling a young protester into an unmarked van during an anti-racism and police brutality rally on Tuesday in Manhattan.

The protester’s friends identified her to The Gothamist as an 18-year-old transgender woman. Videos shared on social media show the woman being restrained by several NYPD officers before being forced into the van. 

“They grabbed [her] like she was rag doll,” a protester and witness told The Gothamist. “They had her arms on her neck and then they drove off.”

In a statement, the NYPD said that the protester had been arrested after “damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents” in and around City Hall Park.

The statement also noted that the arresting officers were “assaulted with rocks and bottles” as they took the protester into custody.

Protesters told journalist Michelle Lhooq, who was at the scene, that the woman had put stickers on police cameras during Occupy City Hall, a weeks-long protest occupation that was dismantled last week in a police raid.

Lhooq documented other arrests made during Tuesday’s protest and wrote of aggressive confrontations between demonstrators and police. 

Protesters said police used pepper spray and batons against them. 

Several city officials have since questioned the NYPD’s handling of the woman’s arrest.

Council member Carlina Rivera called for an independent review of the incident, and the city’s comptroller, Scott Stringer, said he was “deeply concerned” by videos of the encounter.

“With anxiety about what’s happening in Portland, the NYPD deploying unmarked vans with plainclothes cops to make street arrests of protestors feels more like provocation than public safety,” Councilman Brad Lander said, alluding to similar tactics used by federal officers against protesters in Oregon.

On Tuesday night, Rivera that the woman had been fingerprinted by police and was expected to be released “in next hour or so.” 

Source: AOL