Police Commissioner Bill Bratton appealed to the public once again Wednesday to help find the people responsible for attacking two officers during a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend. The plea came as the NYPD identified a seventh suspect and nine witnesses, and offered a $12,000 reward.
The two officers, Lt. Patrick Sullivan and Lt. Phil Chan, were attacked as they tried to arrest 29-year-old Eric Linsker, who was accused of trying to throw a garbage can into the road, police said.
Speaking at police headquarters, Bratton said it is “to the benefit” of the organizers and participants to work with the NYPD and help catch the “agitators and the anarchists” that are taking advantage of the protests.
“Their world is a very different world oftentimes than the world the rest of us live in,” Bratton said. “They don’t like government, they don’t like society, they don’t like anything.”
The photos released by the NYPD show several people watching the incident, including two different couples and two people who appear to have video cameras.
“This investigation has progressed,” said William Aubry, Manhattan chief of detectives. “These witnesses here were picked out because I believe that they played a significant role that could help us either identify some of the suspects or provide video footage, a clearer image of each of the suspects as well.”
While Linsker was able to initially run away, police said they found his backpack on the bridge, which contained a black ski mask, three hammers wrapped in plastic and a small amount of marijuana. Linsker’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Chan sustained a broken nose and Sullivan sustained multiple cuts and bruises during the altercation, police said. The plainclothes officers, both from the department’s legal bureau, wore NYPD jackets identifying them as police.
Bratton said the department will continue to monitor the protests.
“These tend to ebb and flow. If there’s significant events occurring, they will ramp up. If things stay quiet, they’ll ramp down. That’s just the nature of them,” Bratton said. “We are capable of working with whatever size they are and we will continue to stay abreast of them as they change over time. The principal focus on the department is to ensure there are no large-scale disturbances, violence, injuries to anybody living or working in this city. To date, by and large, that has worked quite well for us.”
