Dramatic video captures looters clashing with NYPD

Dramatic video has emerged of an NYPD captain being assaulted during clashes with looters that led to two arrests Tuesday night outside a Zara store in the Financial District, police said.

The footage shows the police official wearing a helmet being shoved to the ground as two other cops in riot gear rush to his aid at the corner of Fulton Street and Broadway at 9:15 p.m. — more than an hour after a curfew went into effect.

The officer in the white shirt then swings the helmet he lost in the scuffle at a man wearing a backpack, drops his helmet, punches the man and then grapples with him in the melee.

Another officer then cuffs the man behind his back as he lies on the street.

Juan Garcia, 21, and Fernando Lopez, 18, both of 60-61 Myrtle Ave., Queens, allegedly exited the closed store through a broken window after stealing merchandise, police said.

The arresting officer said he observed the suspects throwing the captain to the ground in an attempt to evade arrest. The officer suffered an abrasion to the chin, cops said.

The two men were busted on charges of assault, burglary and resisting arrest. Lopez also was charged with criminal possession of stolen property and possession of burglar’s tools.

The relationship between the two men was unclear.

The violence played out as the curfew in the Big Apple was pushed up to 8 p.m., with non-essential traffic banned in Manhattan south of 96th Street in the wake of increased violence and looting during the protests over George Floyd’s killing.