NYPD Moves Cop Out Of Special Unit After Chaotic Protest

NEW YORK, NY — A cop has been pulled from the special NYPD unit that polices protests after some officers manhandled activists at an immigration rally three weeks ago, police brass said Tuesday.

The officer was moved from the Strategic Response Group back to regular patrol duty amid an investigation into how police handled the Jan. 11 protest against immigration officials' arrest of immigrant-rights activist Ravi Ragbir, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said at an unrelated news conference Tuesday.

Police have reviewed some videos of the day and are interviewing eight officers as the internal probe continues, O'Neill said. Eighteen people were arrested at the rally, including City Councilmen Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez.

Photos and video from the protest showed one Strategic Response Group cop wrapping his arms around Rodriguez's head and another grabbing protesters by the throat near the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan.

O'Neill did not name the cop removed from the unit.

The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is working with the Civilian Complaint Review Board to "resolve some of the complaints" related to the rally, O'Neill said.

Williams and Rodriguez, both Democrats, sent a letter Thursday to O'Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio demanding answers about what instructions the Strategic Response Group received when it was sent to the protest. They also asked what role the NYPD played in helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest Ragbir, who was freed from a detention center this week.

"The crowd engaged in nonviolent resistance to this immoral act," the councilmen wrote. "This nonviolence was met with overwhelming force on the part of ICE agents and members of the NYPD Strategic Response Group."

ICE has said none of its officers were outside the building during the protest.

The Strategic Response Group was established in 2015 as a dedicated force to respond to protests, major public events and local crime spikes.

The NYPD's Civilian Complaint Review Board received 12 allegations against Strategic Response Group officers last year that stemmed from a demonstration or protest, but only one was substantiated, a spokesperson for the board said.

In six of those cases, the board found the alleged act had happened but the cop was justified in them, the spokesperson said.

O'Neill said the cops at the rally were trying to help get Ragbir away from the building in an ambulance after he fainted inside. "They were doing their best to protect his life," the commissioner said.

De Blasio continued to blame ICE Tuesday for provoking chaos by arresting Ragbir so suddenly, even though the agency's officers wasn't directly involved with the protest. He said the NYPD does not cooperate with ICE except in limited circumstances.

"ICE took a very purposeful and provocative action, which is consistent with what we've seen from them around the country, and really created a crisis," de Blasio said.

(Lead image: An NYPD Strategic Response Group officer arrests City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez at a protest at Federal Plaza on Jan. 11. Photo by John McCarten/New York City Council via Flickr)