Shots fired from rooftops, 3 officers injured as police clash with cop-hating mob at Brooklyn housing project
Violent mobs erupted in Brooklyn Saturday night as they taunted and raged against law enforcement, leaving three officers with minor injuries.
Police at the scene in Bedford-Stuyvesant said at least some of the injuries were caused by "air mail", constituting projectiles thrown at cops from rooftops, according to the New York Post.
Eleven people were arrested by early Sunday on charges of disorderly conduct.
The violence follows a number of similar incidents against law enforcement in New York, with the latest being a series of water dousing attacks on officers throughout this summer.
“Straight up cowards!” one man was heard yelling at cops just after midnight. “You don’t know how to do anything, you f–king coward!”
According to reports, one of the cops had to be carried out in a stretcher by paramedics before they rushed him from the sidewalk outside Marcy Houses at around 11:10 p.m.
Shortly afterward, cops faced at least six or seven gunshots from a rooftop of the housing project. While fortunately there were no injuries from the raining bullets, the shooting prompted scores of cops to run towards the gunfire.
Law enforcement was able to contain most of the violence, but even at 12.30 am Sunday, small bands of cop-hating residents were still taunting officers in the surrounding blocks.
According to nearby residents, crowds became enraged after cops used pepper spray to disperse crowds as they were barbecuing and celebrating on the eve of "Marcy Day".
A video from the incident that went viral showed angry residents trying to clean their faces with milk in order to flush the chemicals from their skin.
“Everyone was just having their fun, no gang-banging… everyone sitting around, enjoying Marcy Day,” a resident in Marcy Houses, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
“Everyone having cookouts and stuff,” she claimed, when cops "just started pepper spraying."
That said, the Police Benevolent Association, NYPD’s largest union, tweeted to Mayor de Blasio on Sunday.
“How are cops supposed to do our job in this environment? When will @NYPDNews or @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio stand up & say enough is enough?” the tweet asked. “Chaos is running the streets. This is outrageous — we’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
De Blasio was in New Hampshire on Sunday to garner support for the upcoming Democratic presidential primaries.
“It’s really simple: anyone who attacks our NYPD officers WILL be caught and WILL pay the consequences,” he tweeted in response at 4.15 pm Sunday. “An investigation is underway into last night’s incidents in Brooklyn. If you have ANY information, please contact the NYPD IMMEDIATELY.”