NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —
A person with a historical past of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests was charged Monday with setting hearth to 11 New York Metropolis police autos final month.
Jakhi McCray, 21, of Brooklyn pleaded not responsible to arson in U.S. District Courtroom.
A legal criticism unsealed Monday stated McCray was recorded on surveillance video scaling a fence to a personal lot for reserve New York Police Division autos in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood shortly earlier than 1 a.m. on June 12. A police officer arrived a couple of half hour later to search out the autos on hearth 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 hearth starters that had been positioned underneath some undamaged autos.
Police estimated the alternative price of the autos 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 depend in Manhattan.
After the autos have been torched, Mayor Eric Adams prompt the suspect was linked to protests in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
“Setting police autos ablaze isn’t a type of protest — it’s a federal crime,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. legal professional for the Japanese District of New York, stated in a information launch Monday.
