An NYPD SUV was caught on camera ramming into a group of protesters in Brooklyn, on Saturday, during the city's third night of demonstrations over the death of George Floyd.
The clip shows the NYPD SUV stationed in the middle of Flatbush Avenue, near St. Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights, with protestors pressing a metal barricade against it, as they lobbed bottles and traffic cones its way.
A second NYPD SUV then pulls up alongside the first car, and drives around the barricade towards protestors. Moments later, the law enforcement official behind the wheel of the first SUV rams into the barricade, knocking protestors to the ground amid screams.
Per Twitter user, Pierre Garapon, who posted the clip, the incident occurred shortly before 8 pm on Saturday.
It's unclear if there are any injuries, as the NYPD have not yet released a statement.
Speaking on Saturday on NY1, Mayor Bill de Blasio denounced the incident as "troubling". But while he said that it is under investigation, he stated that officers may have had no other choice. "I'm not going to blame officers who were trying to deal with an absolutely impossible situation," he said.
"The folks who were converging on that police car did the wrong thing to begin with, and they created an untenable situation," de Blasio continued. "I wish the officers had found a different approach, but let's begin at the beginning. The protesters in that video did the wrong thing to surround that police car, period."
The incident caught the attention of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who took to Twitter to condemn the actions of the NYPD.
"NYPD officers just drove an SUV into a crowd of human beings. They could‘ve killed them, &we don’t know how many they injured. NO ONE gets to slam an SUV through a crowd of human beings. @NYCMayor these officers need to be brought to justice, not dismissed w/“internal reviews," she wrote.
She later tweeted about the incident again, this time to criticize de Blasio for "making excuses for the NYPD running SUVs into crowds."
The protests come after the death of George Floyd. The African-American man was arrested by Minneapolis police on Monday, May 25th, for reportedly using a counterfeit $20 note in a store. While being detained, officer Derek Chauvin - a 19 year veteran of the force - knelt on his neck for eight minutes, which resulted in him losing consciousness, and later passing away.
On Friday it was revealed that Chauvin had been detained and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
More on Chauvin's arrest below:He was arrested by the state’s bureau of criminal apprehension.
Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman revealed in a statement: "We are in the process of continuing to review the evidence. There may be additional charges later."
Floyd's family has since released a statement calling Chauvin's arrest a "welcome but overdue step on the road to justice” and added that members “expected a first-degree murder charge" - which they still demand.
"The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and spilling out on to streets across [the country]," the statement added.
The statement concluded by saying:
"Today, George Floyd's family is having to explain to his children why their father was executed by police on video. It's essential that the City closely examines and changes its policing policies and training procedures to correct for the lack of proper field supervision; the use of appropriate, non-lethal restraint techniques; the ability to recognize medical signs associated with the restriction of airflow, and the legal duty to seek emergency medical care and stop a civil rights violation."
Under Minnesota law, a first-degree murder charge would require prosecutors to prove Chauvin’s actions were willful and premeditated.
In footage of the arrest, George Floyd can be heard pleading for help - repeatedly telling officers that he couldn't breathe. He then became unresponsive during the arrest and was later pronounced dead.
Watch a news report on protests in Minneapolis below, where a white CNN journalist describes how differently he was treated by police at the demonstration: