By Thomas Tracy, Rocco Parascandola and Larry Mcshane
New York Daily News
NEW YORK CITY — A Brooklyn man surrendered Wednesday for his role in the weekend dousing of two city cops with buckets of water, an embarrassing incident that sparked outrage and criticism within the department and around the nation.
Courtney Thompson, 28, turned himself in at the 73rd Precinct stationhouse in connection with the Saturday soaking where NYPD officers were openly mocked and splashed with water by a crowd of 15 to 20 local youths, police said. He was charged with obstructing governmental administration, criminal mischief and criminal tampering — the last charge for damaging police equipment with the water.
A third person was separately arrested for setting off a similar Saturday evening incident in Harlem by dousing a woman walking through the neighborhood and damaging her cell phone, cops said.
Police officers responding to reports of men spraying passersby with water guns on a Harlem sidewalk were themselves targeted upon arrival at W. 115th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. A cellphone video of the chaos showed a police officer was struck in the head with a bucket thrown by someone in the crowd.
Arrested and charged with criminal mischief were Ibrahima Niang, 22, and Abdoulaye Diallo, 17. The third suspect was not immediately identified.
Video of the Harlem incident showed several men throwing water at the officers during the weekend heat wave. The officers were soaked while arresting Niang and Diallo, with each dropping an F-bomb while challenging the cops, according to court papers.
“F--- you, you’re lucky you have that shield,” Niang reportedly told the officers.
The Brooklyn attack, in which the targeted officers walked away without making any arrests, prompted an angry response from NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.
“Any cop who thinks that’s all right, that they can walk away from something like that, maybe they should reconsider whether or not this is the profession for them,” he said Tuesday.
Both incidents were captured on cellphone video that went viral after the cops responded to calls about unruly behavior around open fire hydrants on Saturday, when temperatures soared into the mid-90s.
City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams condemned the actions of the illegal bucket brigade members and questioned the comments made by law enforcement officials about the incident.
“There’s been some rhetoric trying to ratchet up in a tone that is just not a reality,” Williams said Wednesday. “There is not lawlessness happening. This is not the result, in the way it’s being spoken about, of policies from the left.”
He praised the officers involved for showing “amazing restraint. I think anyone who watched that would have to agree.”
Yet NYPD Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino ripped local politicians for a failure to support the NYPD.
“Lawmakers with decriminalization agendas apparently have little regard for the law, so there’s no reason to believe those very same politicians have any regard for us,” said the union head. “If they did, they would publicly condemn such behavior, but instead, they condone it by remaining silent.”
Others weighing in after the incident included ex-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who blasted Mayor de Blasio, and Vice President Mike Pence.
“President @realDonaldTrump and I will ALWAYS stand with the brave men & women of our law enforcement who serve on the thin blue line everyday,” tweeted Pence.
©2019 New York Daily News