|
 The arrests bring to six the number of those detained for threats
against the New York Police Department since officers Rafael Ramos
and Wenjian Liu were shot on Saturday by a gunman seeking revenge
for unarmed black men killed by police.
Tyrone Melville, 41, of Manhattan, was arrested on Wednesday after
he allegedly called the switchboard of Brooklyn's 84th Precinct,
where the slain officers were based, said Sergeant Carlos Nieves, a
police spokesman.
Requesting to speak to Ramos, Melville asked if the bullets had been
removed from the dead officer's head so "he could kill more cops,"
Nieves said.
Melville was charged with making terroristic threats, a felony, and
aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor.
 Jose Maldonado, 26, was charged with making terroristic threats
after allegedly threatening on his Facebook page to kill police
officers and posting pictures of weapons, Nieves said. Maldonado
also was arrested on Wednesday.
Melville is being represented by a public defender who could not be
reached for comment. Information about Maldonado's legal
representation was not immediately available.
Four other people have been charged with making terroristic threats
or making false 911 calls, Nieves said.
ABC News reported that the department had received more than 40
threats since Ramos and Liu were shot. Nieves could not confirm that
number, but said investigations were continuing.
Compared with other countries, the United States has a strong
guarantee of free speech even when the speech displays racism,
hatred or violence.
State laws, however, generally make it a crime to communicate a
specific threat against a police officer or anyone else. So despite
the federal speech guarantees, prosecutors have won convictions for
threats against officers.
[to top of second column] |
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to New York to attend the
funeral service for Ramos on Saturday. Funeral arrangements for Liu,
whose family is in China, are still pending.
The officers were shot in their patrol car by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28,
who linked his plans for the attack to the killings of unarmed black
men by white police officers in New York and Ferguson, Missouri.
Brinsley, who had an extensive criminal background and shot his
ex-girlfriend in Baltimore before shooting the police officers,
killed himself after Saturday's shooting.
The officers' slaying shocked a city that has seen largely peaceful
demonstrations after decisions by grand juries not to indict white
officers in the Missouri and New York deaths.
Protests flared into early Thursday in Berkeley, Missouri, a St.
Louis suburb where a white police officer fatally shot a black man
who brandished a gun at a gas station on Tuesday. The incident
occurred just a few miles (km) from the site of the Ferguson
shooting.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Dan Grebler)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
