Search on for Officer’s Attacker
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Police are seeking a man who was captured on videotape punching and stomping a fallen police officer as a protest march came to an end near Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Police also want to interview a legal observer who witnessed the attack.
“Detective William Sample Jr. was struck in the head and knocked from his scooter,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly yesterday. “While he lay prone in the intersection, he was kicked and beaten by an assailant who remains at large.”
Police distributed images taken from an independent video that show a black man with his hair in cornrows and wearing a baggy white T-shirt with a backwards baseball cap punching and stomping Detective Sample as he lay on the ground. A white woman with long hair in a distinctive neon-green hat worn by legal observers for the National Lawyer’s Guild was also seen on the video standing in close proximity to the assault.
“As has been the case over the last several days, police officers were crowded by green-hatted representatives of the National Lawyers Guild,” said Mr. Kelly. “One of them was within a few feet of Detective Sample’s assailant, and we ask that she come forward as a witness to this assault on a police officer.”
The legal observers have been walking or bicycling alongside protest marches, often videotaping them, in order to observe police activity. Seven or eight of the observers were arrested at the United for Peace and Justice march on Sunday. The Guild yesterday asked the police department to stop “targeting” its members.
A spokeswoman for National Lawyers Guild, Shonna Carter, said yesterday that the guild was trying to determine the identity of the observer.
“As it stands right now, they don’t know the identity of her,” said Ms. Carter. “They’re looking into it, and they’re planning on being of any assistance that they can be. Since there are more than 400 legal observers and the face is all they have to go on, they’re trying to find out who she is.”
The attack on Detective Sample occurred at about 8 p.m. at the intersection of 29th Street and Eighth Avenue. Police were moving barricades across the intersection to signify the end of a protest march orchestrated by the Economic Human Rights Campaign. A police officer called for assistance, and as other officers approached they were surrounded by a crowd. Helmet-wearing plainclothes officers on scooters were sent in, and they bumped their vehicles into pedestrians to try and break up the crowd. One protester screamed, “This is assault with a deadly weapon,” after which Detective Sample was knocked to the ground and beaten.
After the attacker left the scene, Detective Sample attempted to stand up and then collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. He was carried from the scene by other officers, a hand to his bloodied mouth. Police said Detective Sample lost consciousness shortly after the attack and was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he was treated for a serious head injury. Police said he was in stable condition yesterday.
Mr. Kelly called the attack “vicious,” particularly because the victim was coming to the aid of another officer.
“Some have attempted to rationalize this attack by complaining about the use of barriers, which were con figured exactly the way protest organizers had requested,” said Mr. Kelly.
Police have asked people with information to call 800-577-TIPS.
Police said that dozens of officers have been injured in assaults since the start of protests related to the Republican National Convention on Thursday, most of them with minor injuries.
Four protesters affiliated with Operation Sibyl unfurled an anti-Bush banner at the Plaza Hotel on Thursday and were charged with felony assault after a responding officer fell through a skylight on the roof and cut his leg. Sergeant Joseph Diaz, a seven-year veteran, received 38 stitches at Bellevue Hospital and was listed as stable. His current condition was unavailable yesterday.
During the United for Peace and Justice march on Sunday, Police Officer John Park burned his hand while arresting a protester affiliated with a burning dragon float. Officer Park has since been released from the hospital. Yusuke Banno, 21, was charged with inciting a riot, resisting arrest, and assault and was ordered held in lieu of $200,000 bail or $100,000 cash.