An NYPD officer who was caught on video violently pushing a protester to the ground was charged on Tuesday with several criminal charges, including assault. He is the first NYPD officer to be charged for his conduct during the city’s ongoing wave of protests for police reform.
According to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, 28-year-old Vincent D’Andraia, who has been in the NYPD for five years, is charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief, harassment and menacing. The officer was suspended without pay after videos posted on Twitter showed him shoving a woman at a Brooklyn protest on May 29.
Videos appeared to show D’Andraia knocking over Dounya Zayer, a 20-year-old protester, at a demonstration outside the Barclays Center. Zayer said that the officer threw her cellphone and pushed her, even though she was already backing up. Zayer said she suffered concussions and seizures after her fall. She posted videos from her hospital bed saying that she was never aggressive to the officer.
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