According to The Gothamist, plainclothes New York Police Department (NYPD) police officers swooped down on a young woman during a protest and swiftly placed her into an unmarked vehicle.
The arrest took place Tuesday evening as a group of peaceful protesters walked down Second Avenue at East 25th
Street in Manhattan. The video, which has been viewed more than 11 million times on Twitter, shows 18-year-old Nikki Stone grabbed by police officers and forcibly placed into a waiting, unmarked van.incontent-ad2">As this video and countless others went viral, the New York Police Department responded that the woman taken was “wanted for damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents in & around City Hall Park.”
Several politicians chimed in on the action NYPD took in broad daylight.
Stone, after being detained, was released from custody shortly after midnight on Wednesday and was charged with multiple counts of vandalism and criminal mischief for five incidents that took place in June and July. Police alleged that Stone spray-painted graffiti at various locations in Manhattan and accuse her of painting over four NYPD surveillance cameras at the intersection of Chambers and Centre Streets by the former site of the Occupy City Hall encampment.