GIANTS PARADE RIOT

Click on video link: http://www.newsday.com/video/?slug=ny-spchaos0206wn

What news stations failed to report was the chaos and riotous behavior of Giants parade goers.

Police vehicles were trashed and news vans also. Some said that police allowed the violence to continue because they could not wade through the crowd to stop it. They were understaffed on this one.

February 5, 2008, 4:12 pm
Police Report Disorderly Conduct at Giants’ Parade
By Sewell Chan Metro News
Police officers restrained rowdy Giants fans who damaged at least two cars near the intersection of Reade and Lafayette Streets. The vehicle above, a sedan painted to look like a taxicab, was in fact a decoy vehicle used by police officers, according to the authorities.
About a dozen spectators were arrested in Lower Manhattan today in connection with the ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony to celebrate the Giants’ Super Bowl victory.

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s top spokesman, said that the celebration — the city’s first ticker-tape parade since 2000 — was “over all, very orderly and uneventful.” But Mr. Browne confirmed that the police made about a dozen arrests, some of which were for disorderly conduct. At least two vehicles were damaged, Mr. Browne said.

A man who works in a government office building at 2 Lafayette Street took several photographs, including one below, from the south-facing windows of the building, which look onto Reade Street. The photographs show crowds milling around — and in some cases on top of — two damaged vehicles: a dark-colored sedan and a sedan painted the same shade of yellow as a taxicab. The windshields and front hoods of both vehicles were heavily damaged, and people appeared to be climbing into the cab through the front passenger seat. Police officers were witnessed arresting at least one man against the cab.

Mr. Browne said that both sedans — the dark-colored one and the yellow one — were in fact police decoy vehicles that were used by officers who were monitoring the situation. Mr. Browne said it did not appear that the spectators knew that the vehicles belonged to the police.