Twitch Streamer Kai Cenat Charged With Inciting Riot During Playstation Giveaway
NEW YORK -- Multiple people, including teenagers and police officers, were injured in New York City on Friday, August 4, when a giveaway event organized by popular social media influencers spun out of control at Union Square Park.
The event was organized online by Kai Cenat, a both popular live-streamer on YouTube and Twitch, told fans they would be giving away free PlayStation gaming consoles in the area at 4pm on Friday afternoon, news reports said.
Speaking to press on Friday night, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) said police became aware of fans gathering at Union Square shortly after 12:30pm, and deployed more police as the crowd ballooned in size.
"We went from 300 kids to a couple of thousand kids in minutes - minutes," Jeffrey stressed.
Police say they made at least 65 arrests, 30 of them juveniles and Cenat will face charges for the unpermitted event.
As the largely young crowd grew restless waiting to see the influencer, chaos and lawlessness began to spread, he said.
"They destroyed food carts; they destroyed stores," Maddrey told press. Some rioters were taking the plates off people sitting outside diners and throwing them at police officers, he continued. Several vehicles, including police vehicles, were damaged or destroyed, Jeffrey said.
Maddrey said Kai Cenat is facing several charges, including two counts of incitement to riot, and unlawful assembly.
An earlier report of a shooting injury was confirmed to be a fireworks injury, the police chief added.
This footage shows hundreds of people running down 15th Street, just off Union Square Park, as the event descended into chaos on Friday afternoon.
