4 Go To Hospital After Cops, Activists Clash At Bed-Stuy Precinct

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — At least four people were sent to the hospital and four were arrested after a violent clash between cops and activists in front of a Bed-Stuy police precinct Wednesday night, according to police and video.

The melee erupted in front of the 79th Precinct's Tompkins Avenue headquarters shortly after 11 p.m. when activists showed up at the building to check on a member who had been arrested earlier that night, according to police and videos compiled by journalist Chris Gelardi.

The "Abolition Park" activists — a group born out of the Occupy City Hall encampment advocating for police reform — were met at the precinct with a swarm of police in riot gear, some of whom can be seen storming the group with metal barricades, video shows.

"Get your hands off our f---ing barricades," a commander yells at the crowd.

"How about you stop hitting us with the f---ing barricades?" a protester yells back.

The encounter escalates when an officer reaches over the barricade and grabs one of the protesters by his shirt, video shows.

Seconds later, the cops swarm the crowd as screams of "leave him alone" and "don't arrest me please" can be heard.

Three people were arrested during the altercation, one of whom was sent to the hospital after police pepper sprayed him, authorities said.

That protester, an 18-year-old, is accused of punching two officers "with a closed fist," police said. He was charged with resisting arrest, assault and disorderly conduct, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

Those two cops, along with a third officer who sprained his ankle after being pushed by someone in the crowd, also went to the hospital, the spokesperson said.

The other two arrested protesters face charges of disorderly conduct and "obstructing governmental administration," though police did not specify what prompted the charges.

Witnesses also captured video of the arrest that originally sent the group to the precinct headquarters.

That altercation, which happened a few blocks away on Gates Avenue, started when the activists were leaving a meeting in the park and one of their members tried to film a group of cops gathered on the sidewalk, according to Gelardi.

"I just want to document this," the woman says as cops begin to chase her around the sidewalk.

The cops eventually catch up with the woman and put her in handcuffs after she trips over a fence around a tree.

"What are you arresting me for," she can be heard yelling. "I was walking away."

An NYPD spokesperson said the officers were "securing a street to apprehend a fleeing suspect" in a separate incident and had given the woman orders to leave the "secured perimeter."

"She was also in possession of an open alcoholic beverage on a public street and began to scream at police causing a crowd to gather," the spokesperson said.

The woman was charged with obstructing governmental administration, alcoholic beverage public consumption and disorderly conduct.

The Bed-Stuy clash with police came around the same time NYPD officers were dealing with a larger demonstration in Borough Park, where protests against new coronavirus restrictions among the Orthodox Jewish community escalated to violence for a second night.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD have faced criticism for an apparent discrepancy in how officers have handled the Borough Park gatherings and their enforcement at Black Lives Matter protests. No arrests or summonses were issued on either night of the Borough Park demonstrations.

Abolition Park did not immediately respond to questions about the Bed-Stuy incident.