NEW YORK – A man accused of spraying two New York City police officers with a bottle of water last week on the heels of other water dousing incidents involving police officers has been arrested, the city’s police commissioner announced Thursday.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill tweeted that Steven Larosa, 35, of Brooklyn, was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration and harassment in connection with the July 24th incident.
“The tough guy who confronted two NYPD traffic enforcement agents doing the job taxpayers want & expect them to do has been arrested,” O’Neill said.
The footage, taken from a security camera July 24 in the city’s Queens borough, shows the man now identified as Larosa approaching two uniformed traffic officers with a water bottle in one hand and what appears to be a cell phone in the other, Fox News reported.
The man splashes the officers with water and then walks away from the scene. He appears to have used the phone to record the confrontation as it unfolded. There were no injuries involved in the incident.
“Such behavior will never be tolerated,” O’Neill said Thursday.
In recent days police have made several arrests in connection to other water dousing incidents targeting officers across New York City. Several incidents were caught on videos that quickly went viral on social media.
Authorities identified at least one of the arrestees, from previous water dousing episodes, as a gang member.
New York City councilmembers urged the District Attorney’s office to enforce harsher punishments on those who attacked police.
“The people who are responsible for these crimes, they need to be prosecuted, they need to be held accountable, and yes, they need to be charged with a felony,” New York City Council Member Eric Ulrich said at a press conference last week.
