A protester who was arrested after allegedly assaulting the highest-ranking member of the New York Police Department during a Wednesday afternoon demonstration between pro-police and anti-police protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge was released without bail.
Quran Campbell, 25, from the Bronx Area, is accused of punching NYPD Chief Terence Monahan and two other officers as they attempted to arrest the man on the bridge as clashes broke out.
Campbell allegedly punched another officer with the NYPD, as well as Lieutenant Richard Mack, which led the police chief to step forward and assist the officers arresting the man, the New York Post reported.
Monahan reportedly broke his finger and sustained some other minor injuries after Campbell punched the police chief multiple times, former NYPD Detective Rob O’Donnell wrote on Twitter.
To note the Officer in the suit is a Lieutenant from the Chief of Departments office that was also attacked, hearing that @NYPDChiefofDept was punched & suffered a possible broken finger. https://t.co/VRojTHeDcd
— Rob O’Donnell (@odonnell_r) July 15, 2020
The assailant was granted supervised release during his arraignment for assault on Thursday, the outlet reported.
The news on Campbell’s release was followed by criticism from Monahan, who said the “reckless decision” from Judge Robert Rosenthal to release Campbell “endangers every NYer and the officers who risk it all to protect them.”
“Quran Campbell is captured on video for the nation to witness him viciously assault 3 cops in uniform—1 who lost consciousness,” the police chief wrote on Twitter.
Quran Campbell is captured on video for the nation to witness him viciously assault 3 cops in uniform — 1 who lost consciousness. Judge Robert Rosenthal’s reckless decision to release Mr. Campbell WITHOUT BAIL endangers every NYer and the officers who risk it all to protect them. pic.twitter.com/yDBDt3oKaP
— Chief Terence Monahan (@NYPDChiefofDept) July 17, 2020
Mack’s orbital bones were broken during the altercation, sending him to the hospital for 12 stitches on his face. It is not clear if Mack is the officer who lost his consciousness during the attack.
Another Bronx man, 25-year-old Banks Shaborn, has also been accused of punching the police lieutenant multiple times in the face. He is being held on a $10,000 bail on charges of assault and criminal possession, according to the Post. Detectives said he was equipped with a taser and had a folding knife in his shoe.
Monahan said Thursday during an interview with “Good Day New York,” Campbell and Shaborn are part of an “anarchist group that has been infiltrating this Black Lives [Matter] movement since the beginning.”
“This is what we dealt with since the first protest after George Floyd,” the police chief continued. “It is a legitimate movement, but it is being hijacked by these anarchists, and they are the ones that have been attacking our police officers [and] are out hiding behind the many, many peaceful protesters that are out there.”
The clashes on the bridge ended with 37 people taken into custody, police said. Several of the arrested have been issued desk-appearance tickets (DAT), and most of the people arrested have received summonses. It is not clear how many protesters were injured during the clashes.
March to ‘Stop the Violence’
The demonstrations started peacefully Wednesday morning as a large group of “Stop the Violence” activists marched toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Tensions started after about a dozen Black Lives Matter activists countered the pro-police march and briefly shut down the bridge.
The confrontation happened hours before Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a series of police accountability measures inspired by the deaths of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and other black people who have died in police custody.
The “Stop the Violence” march was initiated due to the sharp rise in violence across the city in recent months and many former NYPD officers, religious demonstrators, and supporters joined the march.
A Black Lives Matter activist who joined the counter-protest told CBS the “Stop the Violence” marches are too supportive of the police.
Some people in the pro-police group marched with a banner that said, “We Support the NYPD.” The leader of that group said they were calling for an end to a recent spate of violence, including the shooting death of a 1-year-old boy in Brooklyn.
“We are fed up and tired of seeing a 1-year-old shot, a 12-year-old paralyzed,” the leader of the march and president of the United Clergy Coalition, Bishop Gerald Seabrooks, told the station. “No, we need the police. What we’re saying is we don’t want police brutality.”
Wednesday’s demonstrations were the latest in a wave of protest activity across the country since Floyd died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
