Cops hurt in B’klyn melee
Roving, cop-hating mobs erupted in violence, taunts and gunfire in Brooklyn overnight into Sunday, leaving three officers with minor injuries.
At least some of the injuries were caused by “air mail,” objects thrown down at cops from rooftops, police at the scene in Bed ford-Stuyvesant said.
Eight people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, officials said.
The violence came after a series of water dousing attacks on NYPD officers throughout the city this summer.
One of the cops injured Saturday had to be hoisted onto a gurney by medics, who rushed him from the sidewalk outside Marcy Houses at around 11:10 p.m.
“Straight up cowards!” a man in the crowd there shouted at cops at just after midnight. “You don’t know how to do anything you f--ing coward!”
At least six gunshots rang out from a rooftop of the housing project shortly afterward, causing no injuries but sending scores of cops running toward the building.
By 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, small bands of angry residents were still taunting police officers in the surrounding blocks
Anger was sparked by cops earlier using pepper spray to disperse crowds who were barbecuing and picnicking as part of a “Marcy Day” celebration, residents said.
“Everyone was just having their fun, no gang-banging … everyone sitting around, enjoying Marcy Day,” said a woman who lives in Marcy Houses.
“Everyone having cookouts and stuff,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.
Cops “just started pepper spraying,” she claimed.