New York City district attorneys in Manhattan and the Bronx have dropped looting charges against hundreds of people arrested and charged during last summer’s demonstrations that became a nearly nightly occurrence in the weeks after George Floyd’s death, according to a report.
Though many suspects were captured pillaging stores on surveillance footage – and others more brazenly bragged about looting in videos shared on social media – Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. hasn’t moved forward with prosecuting cases after more than 485 arrests were made during the looting that swept across the borough in early June.
Vance Jr., whose office has instead been prioritizing preparing a case against the Trump Organization on allegations of tax, loan and insurance fraud, has dropped 222 of those looting cases, WNBC reported. There have been 73 convictions for lesser counts like trespassing which do not warrant jail time, NYPD data shows; 128 cases remain open and another 40 involving juveniles were sent to family court.
“If they are so overworked that they can’t handle the mission that they’re hired for, then maybe they should find another line of work,” former NYPD Chief of Patrol Wilbur Chapman told WNBC, referencing the district attorney’s office. “It allowed people who committed crimes to go scot free.”
Crowds – with officers and emergency services crews following behind them – engaged in what authorities have called planned property damage at the storefronts for upscale designers in Manhattan, and at one point, people were even seen engaging in a “looting dance party” on the streets of SoHo.
But the damage also reached many locally owned stores in the Bronx, where at least 118 arrests were made in early June 2020. Yet, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark has since dismissed 73 of those cases, according to figures obtained by WNBC. There have been 19 convictions for mostly lesser counts and eighteen cases remain open. – READ MORE