A New York City police officer is facing charges for shoving a George Floyd protester to the ground and cursing at her.
Officer Vincent D’Andraia has been charged with misdemeanor assault, harassment, and menacing over the May 29 incident, which was videotaped, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
Cellphone footage showed the officer pushing the victim, Dounya Zayer, 20, and calling her a “bitch” after she asked him why he told her to get out of the street. In a second video from a bystander, the officer can be seen pushing her aside before she falls, knocking her back onto the pavement, and hitting her head on the ground. The officer kept walking.
This is the officer. He threw my phone before throwing me. As you can see I was already backing up. All I asked was why. pic.twitter.com/8mct5GrztV
— Dounya Zayer (@zayer_dounya) May 30, 2020
D’Andraia was suspended last week pending an investigation into the matter.
“My head hurts. I haven’t slept for three days,” Zayer said last week at a press conference outside Barclays Center. “Since what happened, I haven’t stopped throwing up. I haven’t been able to sleep. And I can’t stop picturing what happened.”
The behavior of law enforcement officers has been in the spotlight following Floyd’s death while he was in police custody. The protesters have sought to raise awareness about systemic racism and police brutality. While police officers in New York have been attacked as protests turned violent, there have been many incidents of officers using excessive force during the demonstrations.
