Eric Garner decision: Third night of protests in New York City
NEW YORK -- Protesters took to the streets of New York City for a third night Friday after a grand jury voted not to indict the NYPD officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island. This time, they entered the Midtown Apple Store on 5th Avenue and Macy's to stage a "die-in."
The protesters also headed Grand Central and also to Bryant Park where they staged a "die-in" by the Christmas Tree. Near Times Square, they clashed with police and there were several arrests. The same happened with another group at Columbus Circle.
More than 200 were arrested as thousands of protesters took to the streets of New York City Thursday night after a grand jury decison not to indict the NYPD officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island was announced Wednesday.
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said that 223 were arrested Thursday night and that the demonstrations were more aggressive than on Wednesday night. He said the biggest challenge is that the crowds are constantly moving, and the NYPD is responding by deploying more scooters and bikes to keep cops mobile.
Three of those arrested were charged with felonies -- one for reckless endangerment and two for assaulting a police officer. The rest were issued tickets for disorderly conduct.
The officers were injured when protesters threw bottles, trash cans and metal barricades at several locations, including Foley Square, Eighth Avenue and 51st Street, and Madison Avenue and 57th Street.
Officers used pepper spray at several locations during the marches, including at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street.
Bratton said the protests are causing a drain on the city, pulling cops from outer precincts and away from crime fighting, and if it continues, it will affect basic services. He said there are 35,000 officers at his disposal who have used tremendous restraint, and there has been very little vandalism or outright violence.
On Wednesday, the decision was announced that Officer Daniel Pantaleo would not be indicted in Garner's death, sparking the first night of protests.
PHOTOS: Eric Garner protests continue for 2nd night
Many of the arrests were in Times Square, where police pushed back against the surging protesters just before 11 p.m. About a dozen were later arrested at Eighth Avenue and 51st Street, and others at Madison Avenue and 57th Street. Bottles were thrown, and planters and garbage cans overturned.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was one of two dozen protesters arrested at West 96th Street and Broadway. Other arrests were at the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan. Many crossings in and out of the city were briefly shut down during the evening commute as protesters passed.
One officer was treated for chest pains and released.
Police were met with larger crowds than the first night, with about 7,000 protesters gathering in Foley Square. They broke into four or five groups of 1,000 each and marched in different directions, forcing police to keep up on the ground and in the air.
The groups marched across the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, massed on the West Side Highway, through local streets and eventually ended up in Times Square. They then marched into the late night through Midtown, the Upper East Side and then into Lower Manhattan.
With emotions so high over Garner, education activist Joyce McMillan wondered if anyone was thinking about the bigger picture: how to prevent similar incidents far in advance.
"It starts in the formative age from school years when there's a problem with a child," she said. "We don't wait until they become an adult and they're acting out, and they're selling cigarettes on the corner, and we kill them for it."
The decision not to indict Pantaleo added to the tensions that have simmered in the city since Garner's death on July 17 - a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, where demonstrations turned violent and resulted in more than 100 arrests and destruction of 12 commercial buildings by fire.
Arrests were made Wednesday night at Sixth Avenue as protesters tried to push past police barricades to access to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree; on the Brooklyn Bridge; and on the West Side Highway, where protesters marched and some refused to move. Protesters were also arrested when they blocked intersections in Harlem and Chelsea.
"Demonstrations were peaceful and the response by the NYPD was exactly the right one," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. "It was smart, strategic, agile and a lot of restraint was shown. Necessary arrests were made."
Also on Wednesday, a police officer's personal vehicle caught fire while parked in front of the 77th Precinct station house in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The black Dodge Challenger was badly damaged. Detectives have no arrests or clear motive. The vehicle belongs to an officer but there was no placard in the front window indicating that. Two additional officers have been assigned to keep an eye on the stationhouse perimeter during the detective squad investigation.
