The NYPD did not stage a protest over the release of suspects in Times Square officer attack
Police brass listens as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and NYPD Commissioner Jim O’Neil conduct a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, in New York. Social media users are falsely claiming that a video shows an NYPD protest over the release of suspects in an attack on officers last weekend. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
CLAIM: A video filmed on Wednesday night shows a protest by the New York Police Department over the release without bail of migrants who attacked two officers in Times Square on Saturday.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The NYPD did not stage such a protest, a spokesperson for the department told The Associated Press. The spokesperson and a representative of the police union said they did not know what the video showed and when and where it was taken.
THE FACTS: As men charged in the attack were released without bail this week, social media users falsely claimed that a video showed the NYPD protesting against the decision.
The video, which was filmed from a vantage point several stories above the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 56th Street, shows a long line of vehicles with flashing lights driving down Eighth Avenue, sirens blaring.
“I just got a confirmation this is indeed an NYPD protest because the people who attacked the NYPD officers were released without bail,” reads one post on TikTok that shared the video. As of Friday, it had been viewed approximately 2.4 million times.
A similar video of the incident, posted earlier in the day by the same user, said the events occurred on Wednesday at 7:35 p.m. and asked, “Anyone know what’s going on in NYC?”
A post on X, formerly Twitter, that made a nearly identical claim as the second TikTok post states: “This should be HEADLINE NEWS on EVERY News Station but it’s not cus it doesn’t fit the liberal agenda! #DemocratsAreDestroyingAmerica.” It had received approximately 50,000 likes and 20,500 shares.
But the NYPD confirmed to the AP in an email that the agency did not stage such a protest. The NYPD could not confirm what the video actually depicts, but pointed to coverage by local news station WABC about a police crackdown on illegal electric mopeds that occurred the same night amid a search for suspects in the case.
John Nuthall, a spokesperson for the Police Benevolent Association, which represents NYPD officers, said he was unfamiliar with the video and could not say what it showed.
“But New York City police officers have been showing our solidarity and outrage in other ways,” he wrote in an email. “Yesterday we packed a Manhattan courtroom for the arraignment of another perpetrator of this vicious assault. We will continue turning out to support our injured brothers and make it clear that an attack on one police officer is an attack on our entire city.”
NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry on Thursday posted footage from the moped crackdown on his X account. A shot approximately 59 seconds in shows a long line of vehicles, sirens blaring, driving down Eighth Avenue. It was filmed at street level near the corner of West 45th Street. The scene is similar to the one shown in the video spreading online, which was taken 11 blocks away.
A group of individuals attacked two NYPD officers on Saturday in Times Square, as seen in surveillance video of the incident. The NYPD told the AP on Friday that seven people had been arrested in the case.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, charges, including assault and disorderly conduct, were filed against six of them. Five of those charged were released without bail and one was held on $15,000 cash bail. One of the seven was not charged because of insufficient evidence.
Six additional suspects are being sought.
Their legal status in the U.S. is unknown, NYPD officials said, but they are all considered migrants.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell called the individuals who attacked the officers “reprehensible cowards” at a press conference this week.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
