Two Brooklyn lawyers who were charged for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail into a New York Police Department vehicle early Saturday mo...
Two Brooklyn lawyers who were charged for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail into a New York Police Department vehicle early Saturday morning were also trying to pass out firebombs to other George Floyd demonstrators, federal authorities said Monday.
Colinford Mattis, 32, a corporate attorney with Pryor Cashman, and attorney Urooj Rahman, 31, allegedly threw the bomb into an empty police cruiser that was parked outside the 88th Precinct station house in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, cops say.
It was revealed on Monday that Mattis and Rahman also attempted to pass out the incendiary devices to others who were at the protest.
According to the New York Post, a bystander told authorities that Rahman 'tried to distribute Molotov cocktails to the witness and others so that those individuals could likewise use the incendiary devices in furtherance of more destruction and violence'.
The bystander even snapped a photo of the pair in the car while they were allegedly trying to pass out the devices.
Lawyers, Colinford Mattis, 32, and Urooj Rahman, 31, who were charged for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail into a NYPD vehicle early Saturday morning were also trying to pass out firebombs to other George Floyd demonstrators, federal authorities said
A witness told authorities that Rahman (pictured during the incident) 'tried to distribute Molotov cocktails to the witness and others so that those individuals could likewise use the incendiary devices in furtherance of more destruction and violence'
Urooj Rahman stands by the side of the sidewalk after being arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD van in Brooklyn
Colinford Mattis stands handcuffed on the street after being arrested for tossing a Molotov cocktail during unrest on Friday night
Police say Rahman, a registered attorney in New York, tossed a bottle filled with gasoline through a broken window into the cruiser just before 1am but the Molotov cocktail failed to ignite.
Rahman then jumped into a van that Mattis was driving and together they sped away from the scene according to the New York Daily News.
The bomb attempt was caught on video surveillance cameras outside the precinct located on DeKalb Avenue.
Police chased and stopped the duo’s van on Willoughby Street and found the makings of another Molotov cocktail in the backseat and a gasoline container.
Both Rahman and Mattis were arrested and charged with attempting to damage or destroy law-enforcement vehicles. Neither had been arrested before.
They face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in jail. They face federal charges and were arraigned Monday.
'No rational human being can ever believe that hurling firebombs at police officers and vehicles is justified,' Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donaghue said.
Mattis lives in East New York and graduated from Princeton University and New York University law school in 2016, according to his Linkedin page.
On the night of the incident, police chased and stopped the duo's (Mattis, left and Rahman, right) van on Willoughby Street and found the makings of another Molotov cocktail in the backseat and a gasoline container
Mattis is a corporate attorney with Pryor Cashman and graduated from Princeton University and New York University law school
The smoldering remains of a scorched police car pictured above vandalized during riots in Fort Greene in Brooklyn on Friday
He’s an associate with Pryor Cashman, a corporate law firm in Times Square where he specializes in start-ups, and is a member of Community Board 5 in East New York.
By Sunday evening his profile on the law firm's website was deleted.
'This is shocking news to me. The allegation does surprise me because that doesn’t sound like him,' Andre Mitchell, president of Community Board 5, said to the Daily News.
Rahman’s social media shows she graduated from Fordham University in New York.
The super of Rahman’s building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn described her as 'an angel' who recently lost her legal job.
'I can’t believe it. I’m stunned. This kid? She’s an angel,' George Raleigh said.
They were among some 3,000 demonstrators who took to the streets in New York City over the weekend as part of a series of nationwide protests over the death of Floyd who was killed by a white cop in Minneapolis on May 25.
New York City was not exempt from the violence that even saw two patrol cars drive through a crowd of protesters.
According to the city's mayor, Bill de Blasio, the officers involved in the incident will be investigated.
'There is no situation where a police vehicle should drive into a crowd of protesters or New Yorkers of any kind. It is dangerous. It is unacceptable,' de Blasio said.
Also on Monday, an autopsy commissioned for Floyd's family found that he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression when Minneapolis Derek Chauvin, 44, held his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes and ignored his cries of distress, the family's attorneys said.
The autopsy by a doctor who also examined Eric Garner's body found the compression cut off blood to Floyd's brain, and weight on his back made it hard to breathe, attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference.
Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder on Friday.
No comments