A man in New York City was recorded hitting a police officer in the head with a fire extinguisher amid persisting unrest following the death of George Floyd.
The officer was trying to make an arrest on Wednesday night when another man came up behind him and slammed the extinguisher down on his head before fleeing.
And the lawlessness continues ….. seen here is a police officer assaulted with a fire extinguisher while attempting to arrest a suspect past the 8PM curfew. pic.twitter.com/4d0zqRZvCD
— ᴊ. ʙᴀʟᴀɴᴋᴀ (@JBalanka) June 3, 2020
The officer, 25, has not been identified but was bleeding and required five stitches and suffered a concussion, police told the New York Post.
It is unclear why officers were making the arrest that led to the incident, but the city has been plagued with looting and assaults in recent days as demonstrations over Floyd’s death turned violent.
Floyd, an unarmed black man, died last week while in police custody after a convenience store clerk called 911 over him allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. Footage of his arrest shows former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, holding his knee to Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes until he became unconscious. Floyd was later pronounced dead.
Chauvin and three other officers involved in the arrest have been fired. Chauvin is facing a second-degree murder charge, and the three other officers, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.
Officers in New York City have been repeatedly attacked since the protests began, including one who was struck by a hit-and-run driver, one who was beaten in the Bronx, and one who was “nearly killed” when a brick was thrown at him.
