NEW YORK (AP) — Three suspects are in custody on Wednesday in an investigation of the videotaped dousings of New York police officers with buckets of water.
Police arrested Courtney Thompson, Chad Bowden and Isiah Scott on disorderly conduct, harassment and other charges. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they had lawyers to speak for them.
Thompson, 28, was one of the people seen on a widely watched video dousing two police officers on a Brooklyn street during the recent heat wave, police said.
Bowden, 28, and Scott, 23, were arrested in connection with a second clip that surfaced this week showing two other officers getting drenched while they were making an arrest in Harlem, police said. It appeared that one of the officers was hit in the head with a bucket.
The videos sparked outrage and led police officials to urge officers not to tolerate the behavior and to launch a search for suspects.
The appearance that the pranksters on both videos showed little fear of reprisal also fueled accusations against Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and other liberal politicians that their police reform policies have fostered a climate of disrespect for officers on the beat.
De Blasio has said only the Harlem incident was “confrontational,” adding, “I’ll just state the obvious — it’s not acceptable for anyone to resist arrest, it’s not acceptable for anyone to interfere with the NYPD when they’re effectuating an arrest.”
