The New York Police Department’s use of plainclothes officers and an unmarked minivan to haul away a vandalism suspect during a protest Tuesday created confusion and drew outrage from people who 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.”
Acknowledging the video, the NYPD issued a statement Tuesday night 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.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday he was concerned with the optics of police hustling a person into a minivan during the middle of a protest march, given the recent furor over federal agents using unmarked vehicles to scoop up protesters in Portland. He said he would discuss the matter with Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
“That was not the time and place to effectuate that arrest,” de Blasio said.
Gov. 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.”
Video of Tuesday’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 1 a.m. Wednesday 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.
The Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to locate a phone number where Stone could be reached. A message was left with a person organizing an online fundraiser on Stone’s behalf.
Eleven other people at Tuesday’s protest in Manhattan were also arrested and given desk appearance tickets for charges including criminal mischief and obstructing governmental administration, police said.
The American Civil Liberties Union tweeted that it appeared Stone was “abducted” off the street. U.S. 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.”
U.S. Rep. 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.”
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 Councilman 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.
(AP)
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8 Responses
So I guess next time the cops need to arrest someone, they will just have to ask when is a good time to arrest you. These mayors, governers and congressmen are getting loonier by the day.
DeSickio is a nut.
He should be removed as Mayor and put in a luney farm, in Iran. Then force his wife to clean the paint of the street.
May G-D save the peaceful and law abiding people of New York City from this wacko and his followers.
with animals you have to treat them like animals
Since when do police vehicles have to be marked? Police have been using unmarked vehicles since forever and nobody has ever thought it wrong.
The federal officers who arrest criminals in Portland are wearing uniforms and clearly identify themselves as DHS officers. There is nothing even slightly improper about them. Their vehicles are unmarked; why shouldn’t they be? And they wear badges with assigned pseudonyms by which they can be readily identified if necessary. Their real names are not displayed; again, there is no law requiring disclosure of their real names.
Rabosai:
We are told הוי מתפלל בשלומה של מלכות. There isn’t a doubt that a stable government is a boon to us all. But today, we are witness to leaders whose policies are rivaling the early days of Hitler y”sh. The immorality, the bizarre campaign of forcing chaos and violence on all of us, the threat of this movement to destroy anything that allows us to continue a lifestyle of Avodas Hashem and basic human independence are a grave danger to us. Anything we have achieved in a מדינה של מלכות is being destroyed with wanton audacity. Would our Gedolim in the 1930’s have told us to daven for the Third Reich? I do not believe so.
I suggest that we adopt en masse to daven fervently for the downfall of this liberal agenda and the politicians who promote this. The threat is serious. It is also important to access our community askanim who are kissing up to the evil resho’im like the mayor and the other libs and pressure them to stop. Yes, some funding sources might become more limited, even dry up. But the threat to our existence cannot be traded for the few dollars. I daven daily for this mayor to be deposed, his supporters disabled from their wicked missions, and for the askanim to realize just how they have been pandering to the enemies of Klal YIsroel.
If stupidity was a crime these 2 would be executed
Amein. We better pray for the downfall of this rasha and his cohorts if we want to live in a civilized land
DeBlasio and his ilk seem more like Communists than Nazis. Both were the end products of decadent cultures. The Nazis, however — I’ll give the devil his due — reigned with a certain efficiency. And the Germans at least had some physical luxuries and freedom.
The Communists, however, were never actually voted into office — they took advantage of World War One and the prevailing miseries to take over an already crumbling government. But like many revolutionaries, they lacked any real understanding of government or economics. They were a bunch of fools and dreamers who implemented disastrous policies. Millions died of famine. Millions died in World War Two because of incompetent military policies. The Soviets were paranoid. Like the current Antifa and BLM, they saw threats everywhere. Not only the Jews but the whole populace led lives of misery.
I also pray for the downfall of DeBlasio and his cohorts, although part of me would like to see some of them repent, so to speak. They need to rid themselves of their delusions. And hire sensible people. We Jews can no longer vote Democrat, in spite of the welfare packages they dangle, carrot and stick. I am aware many families need government aid, and I sympathize. But the days are over when we dealt with religiously and politically neutral agencies. We are going to have to rely on Hashem, our wealthier members, and programs to build up a middle class.