During the massive riots across the United States and the way they are either not charging or under charging suspects, Federal prosecutors have stepped and charged them with 7 counts that allows for the possibility of lifetime in prison for all three. Two lawyers and a woman from the Catskills region threw Molotov cocktails at occupied police vehicles and only by luck did none of the officers die in the process.
Lawyers Urooj Rahman, 31, and Colinford Mattis, 32, were trying to pass out explosive devices to rioters in New York City. Rahman then threw a Molotov cocktail into a police vehicle with police officers inside. All of the managed to escape the burning vehicle alive. When they were caught, police found the necessary ingredients for making incendiary devices. They have now been hit with a 7 count indictment including “the use of explosives, arson, use of explosives to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder, and making or possessing a destructive device.”
Samantha Shader, 27, is accused of targeting an NYPD vehicle occupied by four police officers. She was apprehended as she tried to flee. The officers were all able to make it out of the vehicle after the device failed to explode. She has been hit with the same 7 charges as the other two. If convicted, all three could face life in prison.
The action by the federal prosecutors is absolutely necessary in order to make future rioters aware of the consequences of their illegal and dangerous actions.
“Such criminal acts should never be confused with legitimate protest. Those who carry out attacks on NYPD Officers or vehicles are not protesters, they are criminals, and they will be treated as such,” U.S. Attorney for the EDNY Richard Donoghue said in a press release.
“A little more than a week after their arrests, Shader, Mattis, and Rahman have been charged with seven-count indictments in response to their potentially deadly attacks,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney said. “Their criminal behavior risked lives, destroyed equipment that exists to serve the community, siphoned response resources, and created a threat to those who had every right to safely assemble and express their opinion.”
As TheBlaze reported, Rahman’s bail was secured by Salmah Rizvi, a former high-level intelligence official who worked in the Obama administration.