Witnesses at AG hearing on Floyd protests recount alleged NYPD behavior

Witness after witness testifying at Wednesday’s virtual hearing convened by the state attorney general offered similar accounts of alleged NYPD behavior during recent George Floyd protests over police brutality.

Nonviolent gatherings suddenly and violently disrupted by the NYPD, typically unprovoked and absent the legally mandated dispersal warning and a chance to leave. Many cops not wearing face masks as required by NYPD rules to limit the spread of the coronavirus; some obscuring their badge numbers; shouting confusing, contradictory or impossible-to-follow directions; charging at peaceful crowds with batons, shields, pepper spray. Arresting, jailing, booking without social distance and releasing late at night with Uber and the subways down and no way to get home during a curfew.

“There was no legitimate reason to disperse a peaceful protest against police violence. Period,” said Michael Sternfeld, who was in Brooklyn at Cadman Plaza on June 3, when a citywide curfew was in effect. He said he was slammed on the pavement by an officer while trying to record other protesters being beaten by the police.

So many wanted to testify Wednesday — dozens were scheduled — that the office of the attorney general, Letitia James, announced that the hearing would reconvene Thursday. The hearing is part of James’ investigation, at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s request, into how the NYPD handled the protests, which began soon after Floyd’s May 25 video-recorded death while handcuffed under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

On Wednesday, James questioned witnesses, with the help of two advisers to her probe: the former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and an NYU law professor and policing expert, Barry Friedman.

Hundreds watched the hearing at any given time — it was held virtually — and viewership peaked around 1,000, according to a screen ticker at https://ag.ny.gov/livestream.

James read off names of recent killings of black people, mostly in police encounters.

"This never-ending cycle of needless death has awakened the conscious of America," she said. "We take this investigation, and its underlying causes, very seriously."

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD were both invited to testify; both declined, and the Police Benevolent Association labor union submitted written testimony, said James' spokeswoman Delaney Kempner.

Charges against many of the witnesses included violating de Blasio’s curfew, which he has said he imposed to stop violent demonstrations, theft and looting that characterized the last few days of May and beginning of June.

At the peak, about 8,000 NYPD officers were deployed to handle the unrest, including protests.

Contorting his body to show cuts, bruises and what he fears are scars, Jeffrey Castillo, 20, a dancer and model, said he was suddenly kicked off his bike while peacefully protesting in Manhattan, tackled by six cops, tightly handcuffed and jailed into the night in squalid conditions.

“Mr. Castillo, why did they focus on you, initially?” James asked of Castillo, who was part of a larger protest group.

“That’s what I want to understand,” he said.

Matt Gehring was arrested, on his own co-op stoop on Manhattan's Upper West Side, on a charge of violating de Blasio's curfew, thrown over a railing and handcuffed, an arrest recorded on bystander video while his neighbors shrieked that he lived in the building. His wife, Shaina Taub, also was arrested in the same incident, as was a delivery worker nearby despite being allowed to be out under de Blasio’s order.

“A white-shirted police officer shoved me when I tried to find his badge number,” Gehring said, noting no cops were wearing masks during his arrest.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea has said there are at least six internal affairs investigations of officers' behavior, and he’s already announced departmental charges against several of them.

Asked Friday, and again Wednesday morning, for an updated number of officers under investigation — as well as how many of the probes were initiated without a civilian complaint or a bystander’s video — de Blasio said his office would provide the number but hadn’t as of Wednesday evening.

A few of the hearing witnesses — all of whom testified from what appeared to be their homes — said they saw scattered incidents of water bottles, mostly empty, being thrown at officers. One said she saw teens jump on an empty police vehicle, but protesters coaxed them off. 

Among those who appeared at the hearing was Dounya Zayer, 20, who was videotaped near Brooklyn’s Barclays Center being violently shoved by an NYPD officer from Holbrook, Vincent J. D’Andraia, 28, who was arrested about a week after the video of the encounter — in which she was hospitalized and suffered a seizure — went viral.

“Ms. Zayer, I’m sorry for your incident. And I just want you to know that the officers involved, unfortunately, really don’t reflect the vast majority of the officers in  NYPD — ” James said after Zayer recounted the encounter. 

Zayer interrupted.

“What about the problem of officers that witnessed the assault and did nothing? Cuz there were dozens of officers. That was normal for them," she said, adding: “I understand there are good cops. But where was the good cop to help me? Where was the good cop for George Floyd?”

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.