Cops Search For Man Who Threw Brick At Officer During NYC Protest

UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN — Cops are searching for a man who threw a brick at an officer during a night of protests in Manhattan.

The suspect threw a brick at a 35-year-old police officer just before 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 30 near 80 University Place, blocks from where hundreds of New Yorkers had gathered for one of several protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The brick hit the NYPD officer on his helmet, according to police. He was sent to the hospital with a laceration and swelling on his face and has since been released, police said.

The suspect who threw the brick ran down East 11th Street and then turned onto Fifth Avenue, police said. Police said he has a thin build with dark hair and was last seen wearing a black jacket, black backpack, black pants and black sneakers.

They released surveillance photos of him taken before the incident:

The incident happened just blocks from where Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter was arrested as she joined in protests that night.

She was taken into custody at 12th Street and Broadway as she blocked traffic and refused to move.

Union Square was also the site of protests Sunday night.

That night, another suspect threw a brick at an officer, a man hit a lieutenant with a stick and a cop pulled his gun on a crowd of protesters. The officer who pulled his gun is one of several incidents of police misconduct that is under investigation by both the NYPD and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.