B’klyn pol cries as he tells of Floyd rally nab
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie teared up at Police Headquarters on Wednesday as he recalled being pepper-sprayed by cops at a George Floyd protest.
Myrie (D-Brooklyn) removed his glasses and wiped his eyes as he watched police body camera footage of the chaotic scene at Barclays Center on May 29, 2020, when he and former Assemblywoman Diana Richardson were pepper-sprayed by charging police.
The senator (inset) was testifying against an NYPD cop accused of threatening him with pepper spray after other officers blasted him in the face with the irritant.
The emotionally charged march, which ended with some protesters branching off and setting fire to an NYPD van as they charged the nearby 88th Precinct stationhouse, was just four days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
“I’m still dealing with the emotional and mental trauma from this experience,” Myrie said as he accepted a tissue from a police officer in the trial room in NYPD Headquarters. “It’s hard to capture in words how this made me feel then and how it makes me feel now. It’s hard to watch this video, which is why I had to lunge for the Kleenex.”
Although the cops who sprayed Myrie, Richardson and other protesters blocking traffic on Flatbush Ave. outside the Barclays Center were never identified, the Civilian Complaint Review Board has charged Police Officer Michael Kovalik with use of force without police necessity.
Kovalik was caught on a supervisor’s body camera waving a canister of pepper spray near Myrie’s face after the senator was pepper-sprayed, while telling protesters to get back on the sidewalk.
The CCRB is asking that Kovalik, a member of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, be docked 40 vacation days for his actions.
“Sen. Myrie did not pose a threat,” CCRB prosecutor Andre Applewhite told NYPD Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Trials Josh Kleiman in his opening statement. “In fact, he was trying to comply with their orders.”
After he was pepper-sprayed, cops took Myrie into custody and cuffed him with zip ties. NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey, who was head of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North at the time, knew Myrie was going to be at the protest and ordered his release when he saw the senator cuffed.
When Kovalik took the stand Wednesday, he said there were 1,500 people and 40 to 50 officers at Barclays Center when he arrived that night.
He testified that he used his pepper spray, then helped a fellow officer up from the ground and assisted with making arrests, all while the canister of the disabling agent was still in his hand. “At the time I thought I had reholstered it,” he said.
Myrie and Richardson have a pending federal lawsuit against the NYPD for their treatment during the protest.
“Although the assemblywoman was dragged to safety by nearby good Samaritans who helped tend her injuries, Sen. Myrie was not so lucky,” the suit charged. “While Sen. Myrie was blinded by pepper spray and in searing pain, several officers descended on him and arrested him, even though he had done nothing wrong.” Kovalik is not named in the lawsuit. Michael Martinez, Kovalik’s lawyer, admitted that the Strategic Response Group cop had used his pepper spray earlier in the day, but said that he did not spray the politicians.
Kovalik did have it in his hand as protesters threw fireworks at police and officers were ordered to start arresting protesters blocking traffic. “Having a can of pepper spray in your hand while facing a large crowd is not misconduct,” Martinez said.