The NYPD used its drones 13 times to make 239 arrests during the demonstrations that erupted last week over the Hamas-Israel war and could bust more people caught breaking the law on video, NYPD officials said.
“We got the whole thing on video,” Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said of pro-Palestinian protesters in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, who clashed with cops, throwing bottles, fireworks, and eggs at them on Oct. 21. “We’ll be turning that evidence over to the Brooklyn DA’s office to help enhance the arrests.”
Police said there have been about 110 protests as of Thursday, encompassing roughly 70,000 protesters.
Police said they reviewed all the drone videos for any acts of violence.
They’re also looking at police officers’ body cameras and cell phone videos posted to social media.
“Right now, there’s no other acts of violence or assaults that we’re looking at,” Chief of Patrol John Chell said. “Most of those arrests were just civil disobedience.”
Police also have cell phone footage posted on social media of two young men climbing on top of an MTA bus and waving a Palestinian flag.
“We’re working with the MTA to see if there was any type of criminal mischief to the actual bus,” Daughtry said. “If there is, we will effectively go after those individuals.”
The drones also helped the NYPD get ahead of protesters who were believed to be en route to Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’s office.
“We were able to get ahead of that because we knew which way they were going,” Daughtry said, noting that the drone footage was streamed to the Joint Operations Center at One Police Plaza in Manhattan, which notified an incident commander in the field.
The crowd included people who were there because they’re anti-police, Deputy Chief of Public Information Tarik Shepard said.
“You have people who are embedding themselves in a peaceful protest who are there because they’re maybe anti-police or whatever their issue is,” he said. “Those are criminals and it’s dealt with in a different way than typical peaceful protests.”
One regular protester caught on camera in Bay Ridge was Terrell Harper, cops said.
He was sued by an NYPD veteran after spewing anti-Asian comments at him during a George Floyd protest in 2021.
Detective Vincent Cheung sued Harper for calling him a “goddamn cat eater” and asking if “he can see right.”
Harper also allegedly threatened to “f–k up” police funerals in 2022 on Instagram after the slayings of Detectives Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora in Harlem.
“That’d have been a wet dream to ––k that funeral up, bro,” Harper sneers in a video that shows officers lined up outside Rivera’s funeral. “I can’t wait. I’m looking for the next cop funeral. I’m gonna f–k it up, bro.”