A New York Black Lives Matter (BLM) leader was arrested for hurling vile abuse and threats at court officers at the hearing of a New York Police Department (NYPD) sergeant accused of killing a man.
Walter “Hawk” Newsome, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, was hauled off in handcuffs after brazenly yelling in the faces of cops at Bronx Criminal Court on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
A video that Newsome himself posted to his Instagram page with nearly 60,000 followers shows him threatening to “beat the shit” out of an officer outside of a hearing for Sgt. Erik Duran, who was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the August 2023 death of Eric Duprey.
“You think I’m scared of you? I’ll beat the shit out of you. You must be out of your fucking mind,” an enraged Newsome was filmed screaming as he towered over the officer.
“You see how I’m all up on you? You’re a vagina…fucking vagina.”
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As multiple other officers rushed to diffuse the situation, Newsome could be seen grabbing the hand of a female cop after she appeared to reach out to move another woman who was in the middle of the altercation.
The activist was hit with three summons for disorderly conduct, CBS News reported.
The dramatics took place while NYPD officers, Duprey’s family members, and activists packed the courtroom for Duran’s latest hearing.
Duran was working undercover with the NYPD Narcotics Unit on August 23, 2023, when Duprey attempted to avoid arrest for an alleged drug deal by speeding down the sidewalk on a motorbike, the attorney general’s office said.
Surveillance video captured from the incident shows Duran throwing a drink cooler at Duprey, striking him in the head and causing him to slide under a vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene, with the cause later determined to be blunt force injuries to the head, according to CBS.
Duran has since been suspended without pay and pleaded not guilty to the second-degree manslaughter charges in January.
The sergeant will face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
In a follow-up video, Newsome claimed he was simply responding to a court officer telling the upset family of Duprey to “move” away from the elevators.
“So I had words with him to defend the family. You’re not going to re-traumatize them,” the BLM activist said.
“They got excited. They arrested me.”
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“I’m not going to sit here and try and not say I wasn’t vocal. Yes, I was vocal. I care a lot. A man was smashed in the head with a cooler and killed,” Newsome said to CBS.
New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R) called Newsome’s escalation of the situation “beyond absurd” in a post on X:
If you are within reach of an officer’s firearm and behaving in an unambiguously hostile and threatening manner like this, you should be tased at the very least. Lethal force should not be out of the question either if tasers are ineffective and [t]he situation escalates.
It is beyond absurd that our police have to put up with this. Showing even an ounce of deference to this kind of abject hostility only invites more, and makes the job that much more dangerous.
Criminals used to understand that actions like this crossed a line and would lead to bad outcomes. Now they know there are no consequences so they push even further.
It’s a very dangerous game, enabled by progressives who cheer the chaos.
If you are within reach of an officer’s firearm and behaving in an unambiguously hostile and threatening manner like this, you should be tased at the very least. Lethal force should not be out of the question either if tasers are ineffective and he situation escalates.
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) May 15, 2024
It is… https://t.co/n9PEJs0qL0
Newsome has previously made headlines for riling up Black Lives Matter supporters to “burn down this system and replace it” if not given what they want during the 2020 riots.
He was also arrested at an anti-Trump protest just days before the 2020 presidential election, Breitbart News reported.
