A 27-year-old woman has been charged with four counts of attempted murder after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police cruiser during protests in Brooklyn.
Samantha Shader’s sister Darian, 21, was also reportedly taken into custody for attempting to interfere with he arrest.
The pair were among 3,000 demonstrators in New York City on Friday night, part of a series of protests across the nation following the death of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday.
At a press conference Saturday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea stated: “It is by the grace of God that we don’t have dead officers today.”
Shea said that the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, but said some came with the intent to sow discord.
“Coming to an assembly, pre-meditated, with loaded firearms, with bricks, with Molotov cocktails is the furthest thing from civil obedience.”
“Countless” officers are in hospital, Shea said, adding: “There was no discrimination as to whether it was a white officer, black officer, male officer or female officer. They targeted anyone in a uniform.”
It has been reported that a 20-year-old protester was taken to hospital after suffering a violent seizure after being shoved to the ground during the demonstrations.
Dounya Zayer later posted several videos on Twitter from the hospital, explaining what had happened to her.
“This was me, and I want to make one thing clear to all the people that are commenting lies below this video. I did NOT spit in this officer's face. I was wearing a face mask. He told me to get out of the street and then immediately threw me out of the way.”
