The federal government, after watching liberal DA after liberal DA dropping or reducing charges against rioters decided to make sure that would not be the case in attempted murder charges against two lawyers and a woman from upstate in the firebombing attempts on police officers.
Lawyers Urooj Rahman, 31, and Colinford Mattis, 32, are accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a parked NYPD vehicle during the riots in late May in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs that make up NYC.
They fled and when they were caught, explosive materials were found in their car.
The feds have now brought seven charges each against the pair.
Those charges include “the use of explosives, arson, use of explosives to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder, and making or possessing a destructive device.”
U.S. Attorney for the EDNY Richard Donoghue said :
“Such criminal acts should never be confused with legitimate protest. Those who carry out attacks on NYPD Officers or vehicles are not protesters, they are criminals, and they will be treated as such.”
Samantha Shader, 27, is accused of targeting an NYPD vehicle occupied by four police officers also with a Molotov cocktail.
Her device did not explode and the four officers escaped the vehicle with their lives. The same seven charges were lodged against her.
All three are now eligible for sentences that include life sentences and I sincerely hope they all get them. These attacks will never stop until some people get really long prison sentences in which they are not eligible for parole until 20 years have passed.
“Such criminal acts should never be confused with legitimate protest. Those who carry out attacks on NYPD Officers or vehicles are not protesters, they are criminals, and they will be treated as such,” U.S. Attorney for the EDNY Richard Donoghue said in a press release.
“A little more than a week after their arrests, Shader, Mattis, and Rahman have been charged with seven-count indictments in response to their potentially deadly attacks,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney said. “Their criminal behavior risked lives, destroyed equipment that exists to serve the community, siphoned response resources, and created a threat to those who had every right to safely assemble and express their opinion.”
