#MixxNews: Over 83 New York Protesters Arrested Last Night
Over 83 people were arrested overnight as mass of New York protesters overhauled the city’s highways, coagulated its monuments and demanded justice for Eric Garner who died in a Staten Island cop’s chokehold.
After a grand jury failed to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo Wednesday, demonstrators marched on the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Terminal, Columbus Circle and Rockefeller Center. New York was not the only ones contending: Protests swept the county from Georgia to California late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Overnight, NYPD cops arrested 83 people, Police Commissioner William Bratton said. Nearly all of the arrests were for disorderly conduct. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. Damage from the night-long marches was not immediately clear. A police officer’s personal car was torched outside the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn, but officers did not immediately link it to the protests.
Protesters lay on the ground inside Grand Central Terminal, around Columbus Circle and outside Radio City Music Hall.
Another group tried to infiltrate Wednesday’s nights Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, but cops blocked roads to keep out activists armed with signs that read “Black lives matter” and “Fellow white people, wake up.”
In St. Louis, a minivan struck several protesters marching in the streets, KTVI reported. No one was seriously injured in the crash.
U.S. Attorney Eric Holder said federal prosecutors would conduct their own investigation of Garner’s July 17 death as officers were attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes on the street.
The tragic death of Garner was caught on cell phone video. Garner said “I can’t breathe” several times before he stopped struggling and appeared to be unconscious. NYPD is also internally investigating.
