'That's on me': NYPD deputy commissioner takes blame for not adequately preparing for looters

The New York Police Department has taken responsibility for looters who rampaged through parts of Manhattan this week, shattering glass and stealing merchandise from businesses that had already shuttered due to coronavirus.

While police knew violent agitators planned to smash windows at high-end stores and businesses identified with capitalism, they appeared not to realize criminal opportunists would take advantage as the demonstrations went on.

"That's an intelligence failure in that if a couple hundred people knew to be in a certain place at certain time for criminal activity and if we didn't detect that, that's on me," Deputy Police Commissioner John Miller told reporters Saturday.

"There's an intelligence gap," he said. "Was that done through word of mouth? Was that done through social media?"

Miller said the looters figured correctly that most police resources would be tied up protecting legitimate marches and confronting violent elements like the ones who firebombed NYPD vehicles as last weekend began.

"They could exploit that," Miller said. "We had to adjust to chase looters."

The city imposed a curfew to help restore order and the looting and vandalism largely stopped within two days.

On successive nights, looters struck from SoHo to Herald Square, through Midtown up to Madison Avenue, adding to a complicated mix of people on the streets that has included anarchist groups that were actively planning to destroy property and commit violence against police and a large swath of lawful, largely peaceful protesters.

"Behind that you've got the looters who have tried to blend with the protesters for cover and then break off for the sole purpose of obtaining merchandise," Miller said.

Miller gave reporters a detailed briefing Saturday of who was arrested, who was protesting and what actually happened when those demonstrations turned ugly.

The NYPD has made 1,049 total arrests from May 28 through Saturday morning. In addition to federal riot charges connected to Molotov cocktails, the charges against protesters range from assaulting a police officer to burglary to unlawful assembly. On Friday, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said it would not prosecute low-level offenses connected to legitimate protests, but would pursue cases connected to looting and assaulting police officers.

There have been 292 officers injured since demonstrations began in New York, including an officer stabbed in the neck as he stood at his post in Brooklyn.

The suspect, Dzenan Camovic, uttered "Allahu Akbar" three times, police officials said body camera footage shows. Investigators also said he opened a Twitter account just before the attack and liked 24 posts about police brutality. Investigators have not been able to speak to Camovic, who was shot by police.

Camovic was charged Saturday with attempted murder of a police officer, robbery, assault of a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.

He could also face federal charges if the FBI is convinced the attack was an act of terrorism.