People from across the city testified on Wednesday at a public hearing hosted by state attorney general Letitia James about violent police behavior during protests over the last several weeks. The hearing is part of James’s investigation into interactions between police and the public during protests that broke out after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in late May.
The hearing began live streaming at 11 a.m. and continued into the evening. Due to the volume of public testimonials, James will hold a second public hearing on Thursday.
Below are excerpts from seven protesters’ testimonials.
Dounya Zayer
Friday evening, May 29, near Barclays Center
“The protest was peaceful up until the police started stampeding towards the crowd of peaceful protesters... I started recording and that’s when a video that has gone viral has started, where I am running backwards in the direction the police are telling us to go to, and Vincent D’Andraia and his commander Craig Edelman are walking in my direction and Vincent D’Andraia tells me to move. He tells me to get out of the street and I ask, ‘why,' while still moving in the direction he was telling me to move in, and he smacked my phone out of my hand. He broke my phone and cracked the edges. I had a right to record and he destroyed my property.
Then, not even a split second later, he called me “a stupid f——— b——” -- I’m sorry for my language, but if a cop in uniform can say it, I should be able to say it -- and then he shoved me with as much force as he could. I flew out of my shoe and smacked the back of my head on the concrete. Protesters came to help me. About five minutes went by and I had a seizure and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Since then I have had a concussion, I am nauseous, my back hurts, I have had consistent migraines, and I can’t hold down food. I can’t sleep, and I can’t stop thinking about what happened to me and what I saw unfold that night. Officer Vincent D’Andraia insulted me and then he assaulted me. And then he walked away proud of his action.”
James: "Miss Zayer, I’m sorry for your incident, and I just want you to know the officers involved, fortunately, really don’t reflect the vast majority of the officers in NYPD."
Zayer: "What about the officers that witnessed the assault and did nothing? Because there were dozens of officers, that was normal for them. They were completely normalized by that, and I’ve seen many other protesters be severely injured. And, again, nobody, like, reacts when the protester gets injured. So, like, again, I’m not seeing it. I understand there are good cops, but where was the good cop to help me? Where was the good cop for George Floyd?"
"Where are the good cops that I keep hearing of? I thank you for your sympathy, but I don’t want to hear there are good cops when not a single good cop helped me. And I’m afraid to even leave my house now because I’m afraid I’m going to be pulled over, and they’re going to do something to me. I’m afraid to protest because I feel like they’re going to see me at a protest -- these are my rights that are being stripped away by good cops that are supposed to uphold the law and protect the people. That we’re now afraid of, running the streets and doing whatever the hell they want. Good cops. I don’t see no good cops."
Alan Williams
Friday evening, May 29, Barclays Center
“Between about 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., I was indiscriminately pepper sprayed in front of the Barclays Center as I stood roughly 15 feet behind the barrier that was separating the protesters form the police. Although there were no protesters in the immediate vicinity of that officer, he began pepper spraying in a sort of panoramic fashion. I was hit both in my left eye and my left torso. I had my hands in the air at the time, I fell to my knees and had to be assisted by a group of protesters who had both water and milk to flush out my eyes.
The protest then moved to the side on the street by the Barclays center, [and] I ended up joining that group once I recovered. I had my hands in the air, the police then came towards me with their batons, and my arresting officer then shoved me back with her baton, however, another officer did intervene and then told another officer to take me into custody. I was then put into a public transit bus. I was actually on that bus that the driver did get off and protest, and I ended up being in custody at that time from about 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.”
Emily Jager
Thursday evening, June 4, Brooklyn
“There were a few hundred people in attendance and the march was very peaceful. The police directed the crowd a few times as we marched down certain streets by blocking off others. Eventually we arrived at a small residential street where the police formed a barricade. The crowd continued cheering for a few minutes, but after it was clear the police weren’t moving the crowd began to turn around to walk in the opposite direction and disperse for the night. The police did not announce anything and they did not warn us we were out past the mandated city curfew. Everyone in the crowd had turned around, cheering and shouting had stopped, and the police rushed into the crowd.
From behind, I was hit, and a police officer hit me in the back and then tackled me to the ground. I hit the ground extremely hard. The force caused everything from my backpack and pockets to fly out into the street, and I felt two police officers with their knees on my back, so heavy that I couldn’t breathe. I was handcuffed with zip tie handcuffs so tight that later on in the night I couldn’t move my hands and several days later couldn’t feel one of my hands.
I was then dragged up from the ground and asked if I could pick up my phone. Police officers said, 'No, that’s what you get for being out here,' and made a point to step on my phone and kick it out of the way. I was then pushed face first into the side of a police van and began to panic because of the physical control being exerted on me.
Several people were seriously injured: a man had a broken hand, two people were bleeding from their heads, and everyone had at least bloody knees or elbows from hitting the ground. A lot of people experienced the same situation of having their zip ties tied so tight their hands were turning people, and there was someone on the MTA bus we were taken on whose hands were a light blue and he was screaming for the entire time...Our masks were taken off when we got to the central bookings location, and almost none of the police officers around us for the whole time were wearing masks. We were released at about 1:30am with no way to get home, as the subways were shut down, Uber was shut down, and it was still during curfew which were then violating again by being out. We didn’t get any information the entire time we were in custody, no reason given for our arrest.”
Ryan Fiedler
Thursday evening, June 4, Brooklyn
“While peacefully protesting in Brooklyn, I was arrested for violating New York City’s 8 p.m. curfew order. After marching from McCarren Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to South Williamsburg, the police, at approximately 9 p.m., blockaded a street, and when protesters changed direction, charged the back of the crowd. The police made no commands for protesters to disperse or stop at any time during the interaction, and instead beat and arrested the same protesters.
I was first pushed to the ground and told to run by an officer after I began to walk away. Then, after I stopped because four or five police officers beat a person who had fallen to the ground with batons, I was choked against a car, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed with zip ties. Myself and several other protesters were left in restraints for hours, despite requests to change the ties, which resulted in nerve damage for myself and at least one other protester...
Myself and a majority of protesters were white, and, at least in my experience, this was unusual police behavior, and the effect was demeaning.”
Chante’l Johnson
Thursday evening, June 4, South Bronx
“On June 4 I attended a peaceful protest in my neighborhood. As I approached 149th St. and Third Avenue, I noticed there was a heavy police presence. It scared me a little bit, I was concerned as to why there was so many police officers in riot gear that were blocking off the train stations’ entrance and exits. I saw police officers on top of buildings...So at about 6:30 one of the organizers made it very known that it was a peaceful protest, and he made it known that we weren’t there to riot or loot anything...
Around 7:40, that’s when we started to be pushed. Police officers behind us started to push us to the front, police officers in front of us started to push us to the back, and it was just a back and forth shove. I was scared. I’m an educator in this neighborhood, so I was concerned of, you know, my neighbors seeing me, seeing what was happening, my students possibly seeing what was happening -- it just wasn’t right.
We begged to go home. If we weren’t being detained, why couldn’t we go home? Other people started to shout, to ask for help. Exactly at 8:05, we started to get hit with batons. I got hit on my lip. I had to hold a man, a black man, as he was getting hit on his back. A man jumped in front of me, and he tried to save my life from getting hit. Things that I saw, I cannot unsee. A white officer told another white man, 'Well you wanted to be in the hood, well, welcome to it.' I saw people get their arms broken, I saw people get their legs broken. I just can’t unsee what I saw. It just wasn’t right. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Whitney Hu
Saturday, May 30, Flatbush
“I carried water and a first aid kit in my backpack and helped to street medic. Before the night was over, I had treated over 15 people who had been severely maced or beaten back by batons. Many were under the age of 18...
In the later evenings, when I was too slow to run from the police injured, I helped with jail support. I saw people leave after being held for several days, often dehydrated, hungry, with untreated lacerations and bruises -- this included pregnant women. Medics on the ground treated dislocated elbows, broken hands, head wounds. I sat quietly with people who were traumatized. I held a lot of hands... I did not see empathy, I did not see public servants. The only thing that I saw was an incompetent militia that cared more about protecting property and their own egos.”
Matthew Ghering
Thursday evening, June 4, Upper West Side, Manhattan
“I was arrested on my own property. Near 8 p.m., I was witness to six kettled protesters being confronted by nearly 60 police officers across my street of Central Park West. As I stood on my own front steps, I was told I was being arrested for being outside past curfew... I was thrown over the railing of my steps and handcuffed using two pairs of riot cuffs even though I did not resist arrest...
I was stripped of my keys, wallet, and cellphone. Then, a white-shirted police officer shoved me when I tried to find his badge number. I was detained in a police van alongside my wife who was told to 'deal with it, snowflake,' by her arresting officer, and a delivery bike rider who was an essential worker on delivery at the time. Not a single member of the police force was wearing a mask, as you can see from the video. Only after detention in a small police van with eight others, being walked to the station by unmasked police officers and being placed in a cell with others, I was then offered a squirt of hand sanitizer. Then, I was placed in a more confined cell with 15 men with no provided PPE upon entry. Obviously, these are unsafe and unsanitary conditions during a global pandemic. I hope the violation of my first and fourth amendment rights have opened up people’s ears for me to say that I’m lucky. I’m a privileged and lucky white man who is not concerned with my police encounter. The same cannot be said for people like Eric Garner.”