NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —
A person with a historical past of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests was charged Monday with setting fireplace to 11 New York Metropolis police automobiles final month.
Jakhi McCray, 21, of Brooklyn pleaded not responsible to arson in U.S. District Courtroom.
A felony criticism unsealed Monday stated McCray was recorded on surveillance video scaling a fence to a non-public lot for reserve New York Police Division automobiles in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood shortly earlier than 1 a.m. on June 12. A police officer arrived a few half hour later to search out the automobiles on fireplace and the suspect fleeing by a gap within the fence, it stated.
The criticism stated a lighter and a pair of sun shades containing McCray’s fingerprints have been discovered on the scene, together with fireplace starters that had been positioned underneath some undamaged automobiles.
Police estimated the alternative price of the automobiles at $800,000.
McCray’s legal professional, Ron Kuby, stated his shopper, whom he described as an activist, was ordered launched on the arson cost however remained in police custody on a separate misdemeanor rely in Manhattan.
After the vehicles were torched, Mayor Eric Adams urged the suspect was related to protests in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
“Setting police automobiles ablaze isn’t a type of protest — it’s a federal crime,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. legal professional for the Jap District of New York, stated in a information launch Monday.
