The skeletal remains of five vandalized police vehicles sit in the dimly lit garage of the NYPD's Manhattan tow pound.

With broken windows, cut tires, and scorched metal, they are tangible reminders of the massive and sometimes violent protests that erupted in the city after George Floyd’s death.

What You Need To Know

  • The NYPD has more than 10,000 vehicles and over 300 of them were bashed, slashed, torched or trashed, with 13 beyond repair

  • The NYPD estimates the damage of its vehicles has so far totaled up to $1 million

  • Eighteen police vehicles were set afire during the protests

  • Because of that, the NYPD is now exploring equipping some vehicles with tools that will allow officers to quickly extinguish fires

Deputy Commissioner of Support Services Robert Martinez spoke to NY1 about the damage. 

“It’s kind of gut-wrenching. To me, this is almost like the morgue for vehicles within the city,” he said. 

The NYPD has more than 10,000 vehicles. Over 300 of them were bashed, slashed, torched or trashed, with 13 beyond repair.

“They’re telling that the people don’t care. This is costing the taxpayer millions of dollars; we're up to a million dollars in losses right now and in a time of financial crisis that the city’s in, we can’t afford to do this,” Commissioner Martinez said.

Captain Ryon Malcolm is the commanding officer of the 88th Precinct in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He said the first night of demonstrations was mostly peaceful, until the tone of many protesters suddenly shifted.

“It was surreal. It was just the anger coming from the crowd and again about an hour earlier they were peaceful,” Malcolm explained.
 


He said the chaos that erupted outside of his station house was unlike anything he’d  seen in 20 years of policing. He witnessed protesters destroying NYPD vehicles and then he became a target himself, caught in a scrum of people as demonstrators piled on him.

“There’s a lot of anger out there,” Captain Malcolm said. “There’s a lot of anger in the world, you know, especially towards police.”

Eighteen police vehicles were set afire during the protests. Because of that, the NYPD is now exploring equipping some vehicles with tools that will allow officers to quickly extinguish them.

“We have two blankets that we purchased, so if a vehicle goes on fire you can wrap the blanket over the vehicle, it’ll put the fire out. We also have fire extinguisher grenades that we’re gonna be testing, so if a vehicle does go on fire, we’ll have the ability to put the fire out quickly,” Commissioner Robert Martinez told NY1 exclusively,

Police officials said they also are exploring the possibility of having have fewer vehicles on the street during future protests, but admit that might not be possible.

Meanwhile, 13 municipal repair shops are laboring to fix the damaged vehicles.
 


There is so much to do that mechanics with other specialties have been given crash courses in bodywork. The NYPD hopes to have all the salvageable vehicles back on the street in the next couple of weeks. 

Repairing the frayed police-community relations that gave rise to all the vandalism, will undoubtedly take longer.