A New York City police officer was wounded Saturday while arresting paint-staining vandals on a “Black Lives Matter” street mural outside of Trump Tower.
Two women were arrested after police said they threw cans of black paint on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue mural.
It was the third act of vandalism against street art since Mayor Bill de Blasio helped paint the mural in front of President Trump’s eponymous tower on July 9.
4 BUSTADO TO LAUNCH THE PAINTING ON THE BLACK LIFE MATERIAL MURAL OUTSIDE THE TOWER OF TRUMP
Spectators shot a video of the chaotic scene showing police surrounding a black woman as she used her hands to spread paint over the bright yellow letters on the mural.
A New York police officer slips and falls during an attempt to stop a protester pouring black paint on the Black Lives Matter mural outside of the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York’s Manhattan district on Saturday. (AP Photo / Yuki Iwamura)
“Reimburse the police,” the woman yelled. “Jesus matters! We will never support Black Lives Matters!”
One of the officers surrounding the woman slipped on the paint and fell to the ground, injuring her head and arm, police said. He was listed in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.
“Fortunately, our brother will be fine, but this nonsense must stop,” the Police Benevolence Association, the city’s largest police union, wrote on Twitter. “Our city is in crisis. Painting on the street does not help anyone. “
The women’s names and information on possible charges against them were not immediately available.
The incident occurred less than 24 hours after three people were captured on video on Friday, throwing blue paint on the mural. They were arrested, charged with criminal mischief, and released with an order to appear in court.
New York Police Department officers attempt to apprehend a protester who they say used black paint to deface the Black Lives Matter mural outside the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue on Saturday. (AP Photo / Yuki Iwamura)
A 64-year-old woman was also arrested Friday after police said she was illegally posting flyers of 1-year-old shooting victim Davell Gardner Jr. The flyer showed a photo of the baby with the message, “I was not killed by a Police I was killed by a black person Where’s BLM?
Meanwhile, police are looking for a man who splashed red paint on the mural Monday.
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The words Black Lives Matter have been painted on the streets of New York and elsewhere in recent weeks to show their support for the racial justice movement after the recent police killings of George Floyd and other black men and women.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
