Nicki Stone who also goes by the name Nikki Stone is an 18-year-old trans woman yanked from a protest and thrown into an unmarked van by NYPD officers in a viral video on Tuesday, July 28th. She was released from jail around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29th after five hours in custody and greeted by throngs of cheering protesters.
Nicki Stone Arrest
About 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 28th, Stone was marching with other protesters through Kips Bay when she was picked up under suspicion of destroying four police cameras on June 30 at City Hall Park. Video posted on social media showed at least four plainclothes cops taking Stone into a silver KIA minivan, as other protesters tried to intervene.
NYC is taking after Portland – a trans femme protestor was pulled into an unmarked van at the Abolition Park protest – this was at 2nd Ave and 25th Street pic.twitter.com/1PDhSYuK9h
— michelle lh࿊࿊q (@MichelleLhooq) July 28, 2020
Police said its Warrant Squad routinely uses “unmarked vehicles to effectively locate wanted suspects.” The police department confirmed in a statement on Twitter that its officers had used an unmarked van in the arrest, adding that the woman who was taken into custody was “wanted for damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents in & around City Hall Park.”
In regard to a video on social media that took place at 2 Ave & 25 St, a woman taken into custody in an unmarked van was wanted for damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents in & around City Hall Park. The arresting officers were assaulted with rocks & bottles. pic.twitter.com/2jGD3DT3eV
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 29, 2020
Cops allege that during the arrest, other protesters started throwing rocks and bottles when they attempted to detain Stone.
Another angle of plainclothes officers pushing a protester into a minivan on 2nd Ave near 25th earlier tonight. "We were skateboarding and eating pizza," said one witness. "We didn't see where they came from. All of a sudden they grabbed Nicki. It was like a kidnapping." pic.twitter.com/rzymNjlVVo
— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) July 29, 2020
Nicki Stone Charges
Stone was later charged with criminal mischief for writing on the cameras at City Hall Park, sources said.
She was also hit with several counts of graffiti and criminal mischief as well as other charges in four separate incidents between June 19 and July 6, including for allegedly scribbling inside The Oculus and on an F-train at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
The accused vandal was welcomed out of custody by about a dozen Black Lives Matter protesters, including the movement’s New York leader, Hawk Newsome.
