x

Society

Passenger: Car Sped through Times Square Protest to Escape

September 5, 2020

NEW YORK — A passenger in a car that drove through a group of Black Lives Matter protesters in New York's Times Square on Thursday says police have interviewed all six people who were in the car and are continuing to investigate the incident.

Video posted on social media showed people getting into a police-style Ford Taurus and the car jerking through a crowd blocking the street, its horn blaring as demonstrators screamed and scrambled out of the way.

No one appeared to be seriously injured and no charges have been filed. The NYPD tweeted that the car did not belong to the department. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the incident happened as protesters and a small group of counterprotesters took to the streets of the touristy Manhattan district.

Juliet Germanotta told The Associated Press on Friday that a pro-police activist who wasn't part of their group offered to drive them away because, she says, "a mob" was trying to attack them.

Germanotta said she and some of the others support President Donald Trump.

"We tried to leave. We stopped because they blocked the street," Germanotta said. "They then begin to try to open the door and break the windows, so he drove to save our lives. That's what happened."

One video of the incident posted on social media showed police officers fanning out to keep protesters away from Germanotta's group as they got into the car. The video shows the car traveling down the one-way street toward an area where the demonstration is blocking the street.

Another video shows a bicycle blocking the car from moving at one point and one person punching the car's window and another person banging on it, Shea said. 

Germanotta made headlines this summer when she was arrested on several occasions for dumping paint onto a Black Lives Matter mural on the street outside Trump's namesake Manhattan tower.

Vehicle history records indicate the car involved in the Times Square incident was initially a government-owned vehicle in Rhode Island starting in 2013 and was sold to a private owner in New Jersey last November. It was sold again to a private owner in New York in late July.

The news site Gothamist reported Friday  that the vehicle's license plate matched a Ford Taurus Police Interceptor linked to pro-police activist Hakim Gibson, whose Instagram page is filled with portraits of police officers around the city.

Gibson posted a video on his Facebook page indicating that he was at the Times Square protest Thursday night with Germanotta. She confirmed he was the driver and that she knew him as a photographer who took pictures at various protests.

"He saved our lives," Germanotta said.

Gibson posted about his Taurus on social media, noting that he had recently acquired the vehicle and was modifying it to look even more like a police car by installing a bull bar on the front and offering to trade parts for a side-mounted spotlight.

The car in videos of the Times Square incident had a bull bar but appeared to be black, while the car featured in a Gibson social media post dated Aug. 5 is white.

A message seeking comment was left with Gibson.

Shea told Fox 5 on Friday morning that no protesters had come forward saying they were injured or that they would cooperate.

"We have to interview both sides," Shea said.

RELATED

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harvey Weinstein's landmark New York sexual assault conviction was thrown out by an appeals court Thursday, and most of the dozens of civil cases filed against him since he became a central target in the #MeToo movement in 2017 have either been settled or dismissed.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

Over 100 Pilot Whales Beached on Western Australian Coast Have Been Rescued, Officials Say

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — More than 100 long-finned pilot whales that beached on the western Australian coast Thursday have returned to sea, while 29 died on the shore, officials said.

On Monday, April 22, 2024, history was being written in a Manhattan courtroom.

PARIS - With heavy security set for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games during a time of terrorism, France has asked to use a Greek air defense system as well although talks are said to have been going on for months.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A tiny Philip Morris product called Zyn has been making big headlines, sparking debate about whether new nicotine-based alternatives intended for adults may be catching on with underage teens and adolescents.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.