The New York Police Department (NYPD) is allegedly urging its police officers to shoot and run over protesters in an audio clip leaked from its citywide police scanner. As protestors took to the streets of New York City, marching toward the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn, a voice could be heard on NYPD's police airwaves calling in to describe the scene before another voice urges cops to use deadly force against protesters.
'Shoot the Motherf-----s,' 'Run Them Over'
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of New York City and several other cities across the country to express their anger over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who was killed after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him down with his knee over his neck.
In the audio clip obtained by TMZ, the voice on the police scanner is heard urging officers to "Shoot those mother-----s," to which another voice responds, "Don't put that over the air."
Later in the evening, the scanner picked up another transmission between officers saying they were surrounded by protesters near the intersection of Albany and Dean Streets in Crown Heights, when a voice on the scanner responds, "Run them over."
Fortunately, there was no violence from the cops or the protesters. It is not yet clear whether the voices heard on the radio came from police officers or someone who had access to the radio but the NYPD is conducting an internal investigation.
Police Claim Radios Have Gone Missing
The authenticity of the audio clip has been independently verified by TMZ as it was obtained from a website that records police scanners. However, sources in the NYPD are claiming that during the latest wave of unrest in the city, several police radios have gone missing so there is a possibility that the transmission on the scanner did not originate from the police.
NYPD vs Protesters
NYPD police officers have been clashing with the protesters over the last few days, from an officer pulling a gun on demonstrators, and cops driving a police vehicle into a crowd of protesters on Saturday, May 30.
An NYPD sergeant was run over by a vehicle early Tuesday morning in the Bronx in what appeared to be a deliberate hit-and-run, as previously reported by International Business Times.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD police officials came under sharp criticism on Tuesday, June 2, and vowed to alter their tactics after thousands of officers were unable to prevent bands of looters from breaking into businesses across the city, including Macy's flagship store in Herald Square and other well-known stores in Midtown Manhattan.
