Black Lives Matter activists in Syracuse protested the arrest of an anti-violence advocate taken into custody while videotaping police frisking a handcuffed motorist.
Maurice Crawley, 52, was streaming live on his Facebook page Thursday when one of the officers across the street shouted that if he said “one word,” he’d be arrested.
Crawley asked the officer to repeat himself, and the cop walked across the street and placed him under arrest while swearing at him.
“Don’t f—— move, you understand me?” an officer can be heard saying in the video, obtained by Syracuse.com. “Don’t you f—— move, I am going to f— you up.”
In the four-minute video, as a white officer and a black officer can be seen arresting the motorist, Crawley says “see what’s going on with these boys, make sure they’re doing everything they’re supposed to be doing.”
Crawley later zooms in on the black officer handcuffing and searching the man who had been in a car that was pulled over. Crawley can be heard referring to the officer as an “Uncle Tom,” but it doesn’t appear that the officer heard his comment.
Crawley pleaded not guilty Friday in Syracuse City Court to obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest, and was released.
Approximately two dozen Black Lives Matter protesters cheered as Crowley walked out of the Onondaga County Justice Center on Friday morning after he spent the night in jail.
The video of the incident has been viewed more than 40,000 times on the Black Lives Matter in Syracuse Facebook page.
“He was within his legal rights, yet he was thrown to the ground. We need this to stop,” said Black Lives Matter organizer Herve Comeau.
