Tompkins Square Park Riot (1988) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Eventually the brutality complaints ballooned to over 100. Video and images of "police officers striking demonstrators with nightsticks and kicking other apparently defenseless people while they were lying on the ground" were flashed continuously across the media. New York Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward issued a scathing report laying the blame for the riot squarely on the precinct. The police actions were "not well planned, staffed, supervised or executed... which culminated in a riot." Ward announced the retirement of Deputy Chief Thomas J. Darcy, who was absent from the scene and derelict in his duties. Deputy Inspector Joseph Wodarski, the senior officer at the scene in Darcy's absence, was not demoted but transferred from his prestigious post as commander of the Midtown South precinct to a "less sensitive" command. Captain McNamara, the lowest-ranking commander at the scene, was temporarily relieved of his post, but was allowed to resume command of the precinct the next year. Ward said that McNamara's actions were "not well planned, staffed, supervised or executed, acted in good faith and made judgments that were within the level of his experience," after Darcy and Wodarski failed to act.

A city review of the riot turned up numerous problems with the police department's actions that night, including a failure to contact either Commissioner Ward or Mayor Koch. In the middle of the riot the commander left the scene to go to the bathroom at the station house, several blocks away from the fighting. The police helicopter used to illuminate the area only attracted bigger crowds. Several nearby rooftops were not secured by police and were used to throw bottles and debris at people on the street. Ward said the mounted police were brought to the scene too soon and acted too rashly to confront protesters. A temporary headquarters was set up right in the middle of the park, causing officers unfamiliar with the East Village—who rushed to the scene from throughout the city—to push their way through demonstrators to reach it. Once at the headquarters, they found no high-ranking officer on duty.