10
CityAndStateNY.com
August 3, 2020
The arrest of a protester by plainclothes police in an unmarked van was shocking. It happens all the time in communities of color.
A
VIDEO OF a young protester in Manhattan being hustled into an unmarked van on July 28 by plainclothes NYPD officers has sparked outrage from lawmakers, liberal activists and police reform advocates. Many compared it to the actions of federal law enforcement officers in Portland, who have been recorded hauling off protesters in unmarked vehicles after failing to identi-
fy what agency they were from. But as shocking as the footage was, especially in light of events happening in other parts of the country, the sight was not a new one for many Black New Yorkers and other people of color. Similar arrests made by plainclothes officers are a common occurrence in neighborhoods of color. As lawmakers expressed their outrage over the video – City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called it “incredibly disturbing� and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he was “concerned� about what he saw and would seek answers –
public defenders and Black New Yorkers were taking to Twitter to say this is nothing new. “This is not a new policing strategy I mean, maybe for protests, but this is how NYPD polices Black and Brown neighborhoods,� defense attorney Rebecca Kavanagh wrote in response to the viral video. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who represents a largely Black Brooklyn district that includes Brownsville and Crown Heights, tweeted that the NYPD “does this in my district on the reg.� According to the NYPD, the woman arrested, identified as Nikki Stone, had an arrest war-
rant for allegedly vandalizing police cameras on several different occasions. The officers who arrested her were members of the warrant squad, who regularly work in civilian clothes and use unmarked vehicles. Jennvine Wong, an attorney with Legal Aid Society who leads its Cop Accountability Project, said that any public defender in the city probably has stories about clients who were arrested using tactics similar to those seen in the video. “I’ve had clients say they didn’t realize that (the people arresting them) are officers until they’re tackled on the ground,� Wong told City & State. “And
