Plainclothes police arrest a protester in New York.
Plainclothes police arrest a protester in New York.
The New York Police Department's use of plainclothes officers and an unmarked minivan to haul away a vandalism suspect during a protest created confusion and drew outrage.
The incident was compared it to covert tactics used recently by federal agents in Portland, Oregon.
Bystander video of 18-year-old Nikki Stone's arrest spread quickly on social media, along with comments such as "nypd is out here KIDNAPPING protesters off of the street."
Another tweet compared the police to an African terrorist group, saying: "When Boko Haram does this there is international outrage. NYPD, it's just business as usual."
Plainclothes police arrest a protester in New York.
Acknowledging the video, the NYPD issued a statement explaining that Stone was picked up by a police warrant squad for allegedly damaging several surveillance cameras near City Hall, where activists camped out for a month before riot police forced them out last week.
The warrant squad typically "uses unmarked vehicles to effectively locate wanted suspects," the statement said. Police also claimed the officers were peppered with rocks and bottles as they took Stone into custody, but witnesses said that wasn't the case.
The comments by the United Nations Human Rights Committee come as the Trump administration faces growing criticism for deploying federal agents to American cities to confront protesters. https://t.co/lfWKED0ooh
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) July 29, 2020
Mayor Bill de Blasio said today that he was concerned with the optics of police hustling a person into a minivan during the middle of a protest march, given the recent furore over federal agents using unmarked vehicles to scoop up protesters in Portland.
He said he would discuss the matter with Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, himself a target of protesters making noise and shining lights outside a home address listed for him.
"That was not the time and place to effectuate that arrest," de Blasio said.
Governor Andrew Cuomo echoed those concerns, saying he initially thought the arresting officers were federal agents because of the similarity to what happened in Portland.
He said using such surreptitious tactics, in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and calls for police reform, only erodes public trust.
"I'm surprised especially at this time, the NYPD would take such an obnoxious action," Cuomo said. "It was wholly insensitive to everything that's going on. It was frightening. And to me it's emblematic of the larger problem."
NYC Mayor de Blasio says protester thrown in unmarked van by plainclothes officers was arrested for damaging police property: “This is not Portland ... what you see on that video is NYPD officers. I think it was the wrong time and the wrong place to effectuate that arrest.” pic.twitter.com/LtKWQ5Tn26
Video of yesterday's arrest at a 24-hour demonstration in Manhattan showed officers in T-shirts and shorts just after they put Stone into the minivan.
Uniformed bike cops are seen forming a perimeter and standing guard as the plainclothes officers — their department-issued guns and stun guns visible on their holsters — work around the vehicle. The clip was shared thousands of times, including by politicians and cable news commentators.
Stone, identified by friends as a transgender activist who has been experiencing homelessness, was released from a police precinct around 1am local time and ordered to return to court at a later date to face charges of criminal mischief and making graffiti stemming from five alleged incidents over the last two months.
Protesters march for social justice in New York yesterday. Photo / AP
The American Civil Liberties Union tweeted that it appeared Stone was "abducted" off the street. US Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat, said the episode was "terrifying and should be unacceptable to everyone who respects the constitutional rights this country was founded on."
Middle East reporters woke up to the video of plainclothes NYPD bundling the woman into the unmarked van. They've all seen this before. https://t.co/u8dsAlKqrM
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who made headlines last week for castigating a sexist colleague, tweeted: "This is not a drill. There is no excuse for snatching women off the street and throwing them into unmarked vans."
In Portland, federal agents were accused of failing to properly identify themselves as they took people into custody, allegedly without probable cause. Those people were questioned and released.
"A lot of us have watched in pain what's been going in in Portland, Oregon," de Blasio said. "Anything that even slightly suggests that to me is troubling and it's the kind of thing we don't want to see in our city."
This reminds me of scenes in China, where plainclothes cops would bundle activists into vans and whisk them away. Is this necessary? NYPD says the protester “was wanted for damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents.” But why conduct an arrest this way? https://t.co/rKCNfwMUyo
The Police Benevolent Association, the union representing the city's police officers, tweeted that "politicians hurling hate at cops for daring to arrest a wanted criminal ... have surrendered our streets."
City Councillor Joe Borelli, a supporter of the police department, tweeted approval of the plainclothes tactics and derision for people upset by it.
"So excited to hear today's hot takes on how someone shouldn't be arrested despite having an arrest warrant, or should have been arrested in some other manner or by more fashion-conscious cops, or how police unmarked minivans are evil or something," Borelli, a Republican, wrote.
