A New York Police Department official appeared to get pepper-sprayed in the face with his own cannister of the irrritant in the middle of a scuffle during a protest against Israel's war in Gaza on the Manhattan Bridge.
Assistant Deupty James McCarthy can be seen on video amid the crowd Saturday with a small canister in his hand that he appears to look directly at, then suddenly throws back his head amid a throng of protesters being corralled before police officers are dousing his face with water.
A Getty image of the scene by photographer Alex Kent shows McCarthy being "assisted after being affected by a chemical irritant." Kent added on X that "video of the incident appears to show McCarthy deploy his pepper spray — possibly injuring himself.
NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy is assisted after being affected by a chemical irritant. Video of the incident appears to show McCarthy deploy his pepper spray - possibly injuring himself.
— Alex Kent (@AlexKentTN) May 12, 2024
May 11, 2024 in New York City. For @gettyimages pic.twitter.com/VJSiBqbNBJ
The NYPD told CBS News that "someone" deployed pepper-spray on McCarthy without providing an identity.
It was not publicly revealed if McCarthy suffered any serious injury.
More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated on the bridge ahead of the 76th anniversary of Nakba — when more than half of the Palestinian population was displaced during the 1948 establishment of Israel.
