Fire NYPD Officer Who Shoved Protester, Elected Officials Say

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — An act of NYPD violence played out millions of times on viral video — a darkened Brooklyn street, a cop shoving a young woman with such force she falls flat on her back.

She curls up next to a curb. He walks away, arms flexed, his supervisor behind him doing nothing to help.

The woman, Dounya Zoyer, went to the hospital after suffering a concussion and seizures.

Now, police Officer Vincent D’Andraia and his supervisor Deputy Inspector Craig Edelman face calls for their removal amid outrage over NYPD actions at what started out as a peaceful May 29 demonstration at Barclays Center over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

"I am here to call for their immediate removal," said Congresswoman Yvette Clarke during a Monday news conference in Brownsville, where the officers are stationed. "They cannot be trusted with the well-being of our community. Posting these men where they can abuse their authority by terrorizing the community — a community, mind you, reeling and traumatized by the COVID-19 crisis — is tantamount to cruel and inhumane punishment."

Clarke was joined by her colleague Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and city Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel to call for D'Andraia's firing and Edelmen's removal from the 73rd Precinct.

Myrie attended the Barclays rally, wearing a bright neon shirt with his title. He was still pepper sprayed and handcuffed by NYPD officers before being let go.

It's a small measure of luck that Zoyer did not have, he said. She was "brutalized" by "rogue" officers, he said.

"We're always told that it's the bad apples, but bad apples ruin the whole batch," he said as a police siren wailed nearby. "And we're forced to eat that apple pie, the black communities. And people are shocked that we're tired of being poisoned."

I joined my colleagues this morning for a press conference on the police brutality epidemic and violent assault on a peaceful protester.

Officer Vincent J. D'Andraia must be fired and Deputy Inspector Craig Edelman must be removed. Without accountability, there will be no trust. pic.twitter.com/wzbzBjsT9I

— NYS Senator Get Counted Myrie 米维 (@SenatorMyrie) June" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/SenatorMyr... 1, 2020

"Any violent, brutal, abusive officer within the New York Police Department should be purged and held accountable to the full extent of the law," he said. "Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month. Today."