Keith Boykin, a longtime LGBTQ civil rights activist, openly gay author, educator and CNN political commentator, detailed his arrest on May 30 during the New York City protest of the death of George Floyd. He becomes the latest in a string of journalists arrested or physically assaulted during protests across the country over the weekend.
Boykin tweeted his experience to his 221,000 followers and later appeared on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon to share his experience of being detained for over six hours.
In a series of tweets, Boykin says he was arrested by NYPD on 96th Street and West Side Highway while taking photos and video of the protest to post online. Boykin says despite identifying himself as "with the press, they [police] walked by me and then turned around and arrested me."
During his appearance on CNN, Boykin explained in detail how he was mistreated while in police custody.
“They took me, they put me in a zip tie, they put my hands behind my back, they put me in a hot van for an hour, in a hot police bus for an hour, then they took me down to 1 Police Plaza where they held me in a jail cell with about 35 other prisoners from [the] protest, and I was there for 4 hours, 6 hours overall in total custody, and they never charged me with any felony. It was just a summons to appear in court in September for blocking the highway. A six hour ordeal. When they could have just said, ‘you need to move off the highway you’re going to be arrested’ they didn’t bother to do that. They just arrested me. The police have too much power.”
In a follow up tweet on Sunday, Boykin says police didn't even allow him to make a phone call while in custody.
Watch Boykin's appearance on CNN below.
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