Around this time last summer, hundreds took the to streets in protest of the killing of George Floyd, a time period which some members of the movement ironically dubbed the “Summer of Love.”
While they seemed honorable at first, these protests quickly devolved into riots which resulted in massive damage to many cities across the country.
To add insult to injury to the many store-owners whose businesses were destroyed during this time, a large percentage of those arrested in New York City have had their charges dropped as well as diminished to lesser sentences, according to an NBC report.
“I was in total shock that everything is being brushed off to the side,” stated Jessica Betancourt, whose eyeglass business was looted last summer.
“According to the data, 118 arrests were made in the Bronx during the worst of the looting in early June,” reported NBC.
“Since then, the NYPD says the Bronx district attorney and the courts have dismissed most of those cases — 73 in all. Eighteen cases remain open and there have been 19 convictions for mostly lesser counts like trespassing, counts which carry no jail time.”
The above tweet displays the disparities between the Capitol Riot and the George Floyd Riots, in which offenders of the (significantly less destructive) Capitol Riot are being held in solitary confinement while George Floyd rioters are free to continue their lives.
Lazy prosecution?
If the prosecutors ““are so overworked that they can’t handle the mission that they’re hired for, then maybe they should find another line of work,” said Wilbur Chapman, a former NYPD chief of patrol.
Chapman added that while NYPD is conducting follow-up investigations for individual cases, the federal prosecutors have decided not to.
“It allowed people who committed crimes to go scot free,” Chapman told the outlet.
The situation in Manhattan is not much better, where 485 arrests were made. Out of these arrests, 22 have been dropped, 73 have been convicted of lesser charges, and another 40 cases involving juveniles were sent to family court, according to NBC.
“For many of these commercial burglaries, you will be asked to reduce the initial felony charge to a misdemeanor and to dispose of the case … with an eye towards rehabilitation,” read an internal memo sent by District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
