New York police officers who responded to a report of shooting in Manhattan on Sunday morning were met by a large crowd throwing bottles and debris amid increased violence in the city, according to multiple reports.
The New York City Police Charitable Association shared a video showing the Harlem crowd screaming and throwing multiple glass bottles at a police cruiser. The incident occurred when officers attempted to disperse the group of nearly 500 people.
“This is what a ‘light touch’ looks like: Police officers who responded to a shooting job in Harlem last night encountered this,” the city’s largest police union tweeted.
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Police had responded to the Harlem area around 3:45 a.m. after a firing spotter activation, a department technology that detects the sound of gunshots, reported the New York Daily News. After retrieving the casings and the fired bullets, the crowd descended on the officers.
According to NBC New York, amid the chaos, the windshield and passenger-side window of a police cruiser were damaged by some of the dumped glass bottles.
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“This is the kind of lawlessness that we are beginning to see in New York City, and if it doesn’t stop and it doesn’t stop soon, it will only get exponentially worse,” said Joseph Giacalone, professor of criminal justice at John Jay College. “Our elected leaders have not been helping much, including the City Council and especially the mayor.”
A separate video of the incident taken on Instagram shows a man dancing directly in front of a police vehicle while the crowd was heard cheering.
“People have been locked up with COVID and everything else,” a neighbor told the newspaper. “Also, it was late, people were drinking. That’s when things like that start happening. ”
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The incident comes amid increased violence in New York City. From last Monday to midnight on Sunday, there were 63 shootings and 85 victims shot, the New York Post reported. The shootings have more than doubled compared to the same time last year.
