NYPD officers "attacked, crushed, pushed" during chaotic Union Square giveaway, officials say
NEW YORK -- NYPD officials say officers were "crushed" and attacked in a chaotic scene in Union Square on Friday afternoon after a large, rowdy crowd gathered for a giveaway promoted by livestreamer Kai Cenat.
- Read more: Who is Kai Cenat?
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said the department's Entertainment Unit and Intelligence Division first became aware of the post around 12:45 p.m. Officers from the local precinct and leadership from Manhattan South Patrol Borough were sent to Union Square to monitor the situation.
He added that the event was not sanctioned by police.
"Our Entertainment Unit, I think we have to reach out to some of our influencers and ask them to be responsible with this, to help us with this," Maddrey said. "If we knew about this, we could've had the barriers out here, we could've had police officers out here, we could've did this orderly, they could've gave whatever gifts they had for the young people away. I encourage this. We want our young people to come to events like this. It just can't be, hey, this is what we're doing, it's a free-for-all. We see this is the outcome, and we cannot have these outcomes."
Watch: NYPD offers initial update on Union Square incident
Maddrey says there were around 300 people there around 1:30 p.m., but after a post about the giveaway went viral around 3 p.m., thousands of people began to arrive at Union Square, obstructing both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
"This speaks to the power of social media and the danger of social media. We do monitor social media. When I go back later on this evening, I will have an after-action determine exactly what our steps were. We can't allow this to happen again in the future," Maddrey said.
The NYPD called a level four mobilization, with about 1,000 officers responding. Maddrey says as the crowd grew, so did the department's response.
The department also deployed drones to monitor the situation, as well as their aviation unit.
According to Maddrey, individuals in the crowd broke into a construction site within the park and began to throw objects, including paint cans, bottles and rocks.
"The young people out here, alright, and this was one of the first things we recognized, the leadership, when we all got together, that is this is a group of young people and we had to be very, very delicate in how we handled this, alright. We wanted the kids to just comply with us and leave, but we were met with a lot of resistance. We were attacked," Maddrey said.
Maddrey says people were also seen walking with shovels, axes and other tools, and some people began to throw fireworks towards other people in the crowd and responding officers.
"Our officers exercised great restraint despite the aggression that they were met with and acts of violence they were met with. Ultimately, myself and our leadership team working in tandem with our department attorneys did declare this gathering an unlawful assembly," Maddrey said.
Maddrey says that the crowd destroyed police vehicles, food carts and caused damage to nearby stores.
Officers eventually began to make arrests to clear out the park.
"It was a very tough situation out here, and I really have to commend the women and men of this department, the level of restraint that they showed in addressing these young people, getting this place cleared out, but, you know, when it was time for us to make arrests, we made arrests, and I think we were very professional in how we did this. This is the greatest department in the world, and a big salute from me to all my men and women of this department," Maddrey said.
A total of 65 arrests were made. Thirty of those arrested are juveniles.
Watch: NYPD offers second update on Union Square incident
Maddrey says one or two officers were removed after being injured, but he says some officers who were hurt stayed to help clear the scene.
"Our officers were attacked. We were in there. We were crushed. We were pushed. I had officers on the floor. As you see, I'm a little embarrassed because I'm very dirty right here, but I was in the middle of the crowd. I was hit with multiple objects as well. I think I have a couple injuries, but I'll figure that out once I have time to think about it," Maddrey said.
Police sources tell CBS New York one officer has a gash from being hit in the head with a paint can, another officer was hit in the head with a glass bottle then punched in the face, and a third officer was stomped on while trying to make an arrest.
Sources say numerous other officers were hit with objects, including construction debris and bottles.
Maddrey confirmed that at least two officers and four civilians were removed from the scene by ambulance. He also said that a sergeant's hand was broken.
Maddrey added that he saw injuries among those in the crowd, as well.
"People were suffering out here. It was a lot of people. It was uncontrolled. It took us a while to get it under control, and a lot of young people got hurt," he said.
One 17-year-old was taken to a local hospital with what was initially believed to be a gunshot wound but was later discovered to be injuries from fireworks, Maddrey said.
Maddrey implored parents to help, saying that some did come to the park searching for their children.
"I had thousands of kids out there. I needed thousands of parents out there, alright? We don't want to do this. We want our young people to come out and gather and have fun, but when it gets to the point where they're disorderly, we want the parents to come and take control and let us take a step back, alright?" Maddrey said.
As of 6 p.m., the crowd in the park had been dispersed, but police said groups of individuals were still hanging around the area and officers were continuing to follow and monitor them.
CBS New York's Ali Bauman was there as kids then descended on Park Avenue like a snow squall, swinging traffic cones, climbing street poles and jumping on outdoor dining structures. Police say some of them even took plates and knives from people dining outside and hurled them at officers.
As kids scampered around Park Avenue for 14 blocks, dodging traffic, officers followed behind in riot gear and above with drones and aviation.
Watch: Bodega kiosk ransacked in Union Square chaos
They eventually were able to get them to disperse, but it was clear this was very different from other large-scale events, including the 2020 demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd.
"It was a different kind of crowd, different kind of circumstance and different response," said former NYPD sergeant Dr. Keith Taylor.
Taylor says after George Floyd, the city investigated how to better train officers for something like this.
"Provide them appropriate equipment to handle large-scale incidents in a way that would not result with innocent people getting arrested or injured by police officers," Taylor said.
"We're going to definitely work on this. This is something we will have the action review of in terms of how we responded, how we're monitoring social media and how we can prevent this in the future. We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness where young people would not listen to our commands, they were fighting each other, they were hurting each other, and they were turning our attacks on us. We had to defend ourselves and we had to make arrests," Maddrey said.
He added, "Listen, we're not against young people having a good time, we're not against young people gathering, but it can't be to this level where it's dangerous. A lot of people got hurt today."
Police confirmed Friday evening that Cenat will be charged with at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, along with a few other charges.
