Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced Friday that his office won’t prosecute protesters for low-level offenses.
Vance said in a statement that he won’t pursue raps involving unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and “other protest-related charges where appropriate” — as people around the city continue to demonstrate against cases of excessive police force amid the Minneapolis cop-brutality death of George Floyd.
“The D.A.’s Office declines to prosecute these arrests in the interest of justice,” Vance said.
He said the prosecution of such low-level offenses related to the protests “undermines critical bonds between law enforcement and the communities we serve.”
The move comes two days after Vance called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to use his emergency powers to override no-bail laws that allowed for looters to quickly get released.
Vance said Friday that if people commit acts of violence against cops or loot and destroy property, they will still be charged accordingly.
Since the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, during an arrest by white cops in Minnesota on May 25, hundreds of people have been arrested in New York City as protests have in some cases lead to rioting, looting and violence.
The surge in arrests has caused a backlog in courts, where hundreds of defendants haven’t been arraigned in the legally required time frame of 24 hours.
Before Friday’s decision, Vance’s office’s policy was to offer the protesters charged with low-level crimes an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, which means their cases would be dropped in six months.
Now Vance says he won’t even prosecute them.
Vance said he hopes the policy will reduce unnecessary arrests, reduce racial disparities in these types of arrests and free up his office and the courts to handle serious crimes.
The NYPD, asked for comment, responded, “It is our understanding that each arrest will continue to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.”
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy