KNOCKED DOWN
NYPD officer charged after being filmed shoving female protester to ground and calling her a ‘stupid f***ing b**ch’
A NYPD officer has been charged with assault after he was caught on camera shoving a female protester to the ground and calling her a "stupid f***ing b**ch."
Vincent D'Andraia also faces charges of criminal mischief, harassment and menacing in the May 29 altercation during a George Floyd protest that sent Dounya Zayer to the hospital, causing what she said was a concussion and a seizure after hitting her head on the pavement.
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D'Andraia is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, according to District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who said he was deeply troubled by this unnecessary assault.
The police department suspended the 28-year-old officer last week without pay. He had been assigned to Brooklyn's 73rd Precinct.
Footage of D'Andraia manhandling the woman was viewed millions of times on Twitter and generated outrage among protesters and elected officials.
The altercation underscored the same concerns about police misconduct that prompted demonstrations around the country following death at the hands of .
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representative Hakeem Jeffries called for D'Andraia's firing and praised the reassignment of his commanding officer, who witnessed the shoving and did not intervene.
"Violent police officers who brutalize civilians must be held accountable for their behavior," Jeffries said in a statement.
"It's my hope this is the beginning of transformational change in the largest police department in the nation."
Zayer, 20, said D'Andraia was a coward and suggested the assault would only deepen mistrust of law enforcement.
"I was protesting for a reason," Zayer said in a video tweeted from her hospital bed.
The officer, she added, "should have had the self restraint to not hurt the people he's supposed to be protecting."
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The NYPD's treatment of peaceful protesters has come under fire in recent weeks amid daily demonstrations spurred by Floyd's death and police brutality against people of color.
The shoving in Brooklyn happened a day before a separate clash between police and protesters in which another NYPD officer was seen pulling a demonstrators mask down and spraying pepper spray. That officer was also suspended.
has promised all allegations of police misconduct would be investigated. But he also has played down accounts of police violence amid the unrest, telling reporters he personally had seen "no use of force around peaceful protests. He credited officers for using lots of restraint.
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