Craig: Suspect arrested for assaulting officer by throwing firework into squad car
DETROIT (FOX 2) - One of the items the police chief spoke on Monday as the city addressed the weekend’s protests was an arrest made for assaulting an officer.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said 110 people were arrested Sunday during the protests, including one person arrested for felonious assault on a police officer.
The chief, calling this person a criminal and not a protester, said the person allegedly lit a firework and threw it into a police car where an officer was inside. The suspect has been taken into custody.
Craig said this is a common practice in other cities, including New York City the other day when a woman was arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail into a squad car. According to FOX 5 New York, a 27-year-old woman allegedly threw a homemade firebomb at an NYPD vehicle with four officers inside on Saturday morning in Brooklyn. The device did not ignite and the officers were unharmed.
The chief said most of the 110 people arrested Sunday were arrested for breaking Detroit’s 8 p.m. curfew.
The reason for much of news over the weekend stems back a week ago when George Floyd, a black man, died shortly after a white police officer placed his knee on the back of Floyd's neck where he kept it there for nine minutes. As the police officer laid on Floyd, who was handcuffed at the time, he could be heard saying "I can't breathe" and asking for his mom.
Since then, protests from across the country have bubbled over into riots.
Comparative to the property destruction to vehicles and storefronts reported in cities like Los Angeles and Minneapolis, damage to Detroit appeared minimal. There was some destruction to a Detroit Police squad vehicle early on during a protest on Friday and several officers were injured amid the unrest.
RELATED: Residents from outside of Detroit made up majority of weekend arrests during protests
In Grand Rapids, peaceful protests Saturday turned destructive as police cars were set on fire and downtown businesses were looted. In Lansing, the Romney building where the governor works out of sustained damage its first-floor windows. Another car was seen on fire near Washington Avenue and Michigan Avenue.
With little evidence that more damage wouldn't stop, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing all implemented citywide curfews Sunday night.
RELATED: Detroit Chief Craig "very encouraged" by department's response to weekend protests
Craig, in addition to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, attributed the peaceful demonstrations from activists to the relationship between community leaders and the police department.