Protests have erupted across the nation following the tragic death of George Floyd. A viral video depicted an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, causing national outrage against police brutality and racial injustice. As of this report, protests have occurred in at least 75 cities, but are expected to increase, The New York Times reported. Footage of officers violently responding to protesters, bystanders, and reporters are quickly making its rounds through social media. In one incident, a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer was depicted shoving a woman to the ground during a protest in Brooklyn on Friday.
According to BuzzFeed News, the viral video was first shared on Twitter by Newsweek reporter Jason Lemon. In it, a white and uniformed officer can be seen using two hands to throw the woman down. He is then seen walking away as the woman remains on the concrete. "We are aware of the video and the incident is under internal review," an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. The woman, identified as Dounya Zayer, was taken to the hospital by another protester, Whitney Hu. As BuzzFeed News notes, the two women had not known each other prior to the protest, Hu shared on Twitter that Zayer suffered “a serious seizure,” in addition to a video of the same incident. "When you watched the video and see his intentions, the fact that he called her a bitch, that was intentional," Hu said. "He was taking out his anger and his frustrations on a civilian."
Zayer was discharged on Saturday after being treated for a concussion. While in the hospital she shared a video filmed seconds before she was thrown, in a series of tweets. "He threw my phone before throwing me," she tweeted. "As you can see I was already backing up. All I asked was why." Zayer also refuted allegations that she provoked the officer in addition to rumors that she had spit in his face. "I wasn't aggressive towards the police officer, and even if I was he should have had the self-restraint to not hurt to people he's supposed to be protecting," Zayer said. "That's the point of them being an officer. They're supposed to protect us."
Zayer also shared that the crowd she was protesting with was doing so “peacefully” in front of officers before an item was thrown causing the officers to come towards the group. Her assault followed her asking an officer a question in regards to what was happening. To those criticizing her for protesting in the first place, Zayer responded: "If you really want to compare me standing in the street to the officer who killed George Floyd in cold blood," Zayer said, "it's not comparable."
The officer has not yet been identified. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the video and said there would be an independent review of protests and police responses in the city during a press conference on Saturday. “Any time you see a protester just arbitrarily thrown to the ground by a police officer, that does not reflect our values," he said. He called the incident “unacceptable” adding that that the police department “has to do better.”
“We cannot see a video like that. There’s no reason for a video like that,” the mayor said. “It corrodes trust. ... There will be accountability,” de Blasio said. According to NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea, about 3,000 people were protesting and more than 200 arrests were made across the boroughs, The Hill reported.
But this incident of police brutality in New York following Floyd’s death is far from isolated. Police are targeting bystanders statewide with both violence and the use of traumatic symbols. In another video, being investigated by the New York Attorney General, an officer is seen openly expressing a white-power hand signal.
Another heartbreaking video depicts a police officer pulling down a Black man’s mask to pepper spray him. It doesn’t end there, violent incidents against bystanders and protesters at the hands of the police are making headlines across the country. People are being subjected to the very cruelty and bias they are protesting.
