BROOKLYN — A union representing uniformed NYPD officers is bracing for the arrest of a Brooklyn cop who was seen on video shoving a woman during a protest near the Barclays Center.
The officer was captured on video pushing Dounya Zayer, who was using a cell phone camera during a nighttime march against police brutality on May 29 following the death of George Floyd earlier in the week.
Zayer said she suffered a head injury when she fell to the ground and was hospitalized.
The police union told PIX11 it was expecting the officer to be arrested on Tuesday by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
“Once again, Mayor [Bill] de Blasio and the NYPD brass are sacrificing cops to save their own skin. They created the failed strategy for managing these demonstrations,” PBA President Patrick Lynch said in a statement on Monday, apparently referencing the impending arrest. “They sent police officers out to do the job with no support and no clear plan. They should be the ones facing this mob-rule justice. We will say it again: New York City police officers have been abandoned by our leadership. We are utterly alone in our efforts to protect our city.”
Brooklyn district attorney spokesperson Oren Yanov told PIX11 on Sunday the office was investigating at least two incidents involving officers and said an arrest “might happen in the future.”
The officer was suspended from the department without pay on Friday following an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation into the incident, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea had said.
A supervisor who was on the scene was also transferred as a result of the investigation.
