NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio said he’s launching an independent review “of the events of last night” after protests over the death of George Floyd—an unarmed black man in police custody in Minneapolis—led to violence and numerous arrests in Brooklyn.
"We have to do better," de Blasio said of videos showing NYPD officers acting violently towards protesters.
The mayor said he was upset by videos of the confrontations “where protesters were handled very violently” by police and by reports that at least two elected officials were among the people sprayed with irritating chemicals by officers at the scene.
“That’s unacceptable, and we need to understand exactly why that happened,” the mayor said.
But de Blasio added some protesters had come “with an agenda of violence and incitement, and they meant to harm police officers, and they did harm police officers.”