NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The NYPD officer who was caught on video violently shoving a protester to the ground in Brooklyn has been charged in a criminal complaint with assault, criminal mischief, harassment, and menacing, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Tuesday morning. Later in the day, the charge of attempted assault was added.
Officer Vincent D'Andraia, was suspended without pay for the May 29, incident that occurred near the Barclays Center.
He was arraigned via video on the criminal complaint Tuesday afternoon and released. The court granted an order of protection for the woman he is accused of shoving.
His next court date is Oct. 15, 2020.
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said NYPD leadership abandoned D'Andraia: "The officer was put in a bad situation during a bad time. Everybody walked away from him ... The brass threw him under the bus."
According to investigators, D'Andraia was walking with a contingent of police officers assigned to monitor a large crowd of demonstrators when the protester was shoved by the officer.
The victim, identified as 20-year-old Dounya Zayer was in the street when the officer told her "get out of the street."
As she asked why, the defendant allegedly smacked her cell phone out of her hand, and violently shoved her to the ground, according to the investigation.
She can be seen rolling on the street and into a curb. Meanwhile, the defendant and fellow officers can be seen to continue walking.
Her video cuts off just after she asks him, "Why?" Video taken by a bystander then shows the officer throw Zayer to the ground.
"First he threw my phone and then he threw me," Zayer said in a video she posted after the incident. "And I hit my head and I had a seizure and I have a concussion." District Attorney Gonzalez said, "I fully support the long-held American tradition of non-violent protest. As District Attorney, I cannot tolerate the use of excessive force against anyone exercising this Constitutionally guaranteed right."
"This is especially true of those who are sworn to protect us and uphold the law," Gonzalez adds. "I am deeply troubled by this unnecessary assault. We will now seek to hold this defendant accountable."
Before it was official that the officer would be charged, Lynch took aim at Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD leadership.
"Once again, Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD brass are sacrificing cops to save their own skin. They created the failed strategy for managing these demonstrations," Lynch said. "They sent police officers out to do the job with no support and no clear plan. They should be the ones facing this mob-rule justice," he said in a statement. "We will say it again: New York City police officers have been abandoned by our leadership. We are utterly alone in our efforts to protect our city."
