NEW YORK _ A disturbing cop confrontation with an angry crowd in Brooklyn protesting the fatal police arrest of a black Minnesota man drew the ire of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Saturday night, who raged, "NO ONE gets to slam an SUV through a crowd of human beings."
The incident came when a small crowd at Flatbush and St. Mark's in Brooklyn hauled a steel barrier to the middle of the street, blocking a New York Police Department vehicle.
The Twitter video shows another cop vehicle pulling up alongside and slowly pushing through the throng, with protesters scattering and one seen clinging to the hood of the vehicle.
The confrontation came during a third day of protests around the country over the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin kept him pinned, kneeling on his neck, for more than eight minutes. Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a live news conference late Saturday, blamed the pockets of violence on a small group of determined outsiders who came to "create chaos."
He promised to look into the video of cops driving through the protesters but also stressed that it was important to "start at the beginning," when demonstrators surrounded the car "to do violence."
The situation was escalating, he said, and police needed to get out of the area quickly.
