Officials react to Saturday night’s riot
ALBANY, N.Y. » After a peaceful protest in the city of Albany Saturday afternoon, another group of people turned to violence Saturday night.
The protests and violence were in response to the death of George Floyd last Monday after a white police officer pressed a knee into the unarmed black man’s neck in Minneapolis. That officer, Derek Chauvin, was charged with thirddegree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Around 6 p.m. a group of people came to the Albany Police Department’s South Station on Arch Street requesting to speak with officers. Authorities said officers came out and spoke with some people and then went back into the police station.
Once officers went back inside the station, rioters began throwing bricks at police vehicles. Police then came back outside in riot gear. Officials said people then began throwing water bottles, bricks, rocks towards police officers.
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said some officers were injured with one officer taken to Albany Medical Center after being hit in the head with a brick.
Hawkins was not at the scene Saturday, although he said he was in “constant contact with his staff.”
Late Sunday afternoon, Albany police said they arrested James Vail, 21, of Delmar.
Police said Vail threw a brick at the head of a uniformed Albany police officer at the police station on Arch Street. As a result, the officer sustained a concussion and had to be treated at a local hos
pital.
Vail is also responsible for throwing a brick at the window of a marked Albany police car parked at the police station and causing the window to shatter, according to city police.
Vail was charged with first-degree riot, third-degree criminal mischief, second-degree assault, and first-degree attempted assault.
“What happened at South Station was a riot,” Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said on Sunday morning.
Police said many buildings were destroyed, including the Albany County Probation building, health department building, and board of elections building.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple also noted how a tractor-trailer was lit on fire in Albany and how a CDTA bus driver was stuck on a street with people surrounding her bus.
“What went on in this county is nothing but despicable,” Apple said.
“I never thought I’d see Molotov cocktails and fireworks shot at police here,” Apple added.
Apple and others expressed their reaction to the death of Floyd.
“What went on in Minneapolis is nothing but criminal,” Apple said.
“I acknowledge that there is a tremendous amount of pain,” Sheehan said. “There is pain because of what we witnessed with a police officer literally suffocating an individual in custody.”
“In the immediate aftermath after we saw what happened out in Minnesota was that we had to be aware of the issues,” Hawkins added. “I asked all of the men and women of the Albany Police Department to review the video from Minnesota, to become acquainted with all of the issues involved with that because what’s happening in other parts of the country will impact how we interact with members of our community.”
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy noted how some businesses along Wolf Road in Colonie were destroyed. People also did break into Colonie Center and damage was done to Crossgates Mall, according to McCoy.
“We’re not going to stand for this in Albany County,” he said.
“This community is better than what we saw last night,” Sheehan said.
“We want to let the community know that we are going to be working very, very hard to bring individuals to justice,” Hawkins said while noting that two people were arrested Saturday night for looting.
“We have surveillance cameras all over our buildings and we will be talking about prosecuting,” McCoy said.
Sheehan issued an order to enforce a curfew until 7 a.m. Sunday. On Sunday morning, Sheehan said she would be extending that curfew to take effect at 7 p.m. Sunday.
“I want to assure you that we are going to do everything we can to keep our city safe, our businesses safe and our community safe,” Sheehan said.
“Once violence starts, it promotes more and more violence and that’s what happened last night,” McCoy said.
Officials said they are also worried about how people gathering in large groups on Saturday could impact the county’s coronavirus numbers as the county looks to enter Phase 2 of reopening this week. McCoy did not provide a coronavirus update on Sunday.
Sheehan and other officials spoke about how the community will come together once again to rebound from the damage done Saturday night.
“We will come together, we will work together, we will help those small businesses, we will help one another,” Sheehan said.
“Our job is to protect life and property and that’s what we did to the best of our ability last night,” Apple said.
“We’ll rebound, we’ll get through it,” Apple added.