Cops were “attacking people,” claims woman held after “Count every vote” protest in Manhattan.
An Indian American woman charged with spitting in a New York Police sergeant’s face at a Manhattan protest has claimed that she did so because cops were “attacking people.”
Devina Singh, 24, of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, was arrested on charges of obstruction of governmental administration, violation of local law and harassment and given a desk appearance ticket, the New York Post reported.
She was arrested along with 55 other protesters during a tumultuous night of anti-cop demonstrations in Manhattan Wednesday by left-wing radicals chanting, “Burn the precinct to the ground!” it said.
Protesters clashed with police in the West Village about an hour after a peaceful “Count every vote” demonstration at Washington Square Park dispersed.
Others were arrested on charges ranging from felony assault to criminal possession of a weapon. Four others were busted in a smaller protest in Brooklyn.
Bike cops have been responding to protests in “turtle uniforms” — with shell-like protective gear, helmets and pads — and use their bikes to combat unruly protesters.
Reached by phone, Singh told The Post Thursday she’d just been released from the hospital. She also accused cops of breaking her left arm.
Asked why she spat in the sergeant’s face, she claimed: “After they hit us with their bikes repeatedly … and started attacking people.”
However, The Post said a video of the confrontation taken by it shows the uniformed sergeant standing in front of Singh, while she screams “F–k you, fascist!,” rears back, and hocks a loogie in his face.
The New York Police retweeted the video with a warning, “Actions like this will not be tolerated. Agitators who commit these acts will be arrested.”
While it supported freedom of speech, fires and violence would not be tolerated, it said in another tweet.
“We support everyone’s right to self-expression, but setting fires puts others at risk and will not be tolerated,” it wrote.
Singh has been collared before for allegedly resisting arrest at a September protest in Manhattan, police was quoted as saying by The Post.
The next month, she was busted on unlawful assembly charges at a demonstration in Brooklyn.
She boasted about her September arrest on her since-deleted Instagram, posting a photo showing her dressed in all black, with her hands behind her back, The Post said.