(NEW YORK) — Nine out of 10 people arrested for coronavirus-related offenses in New York City have been black or Hispanic, police department data released Tuesday shows.
Of 125 arrested between March 16 and Sunday, 83 were black, 30 were Hispanic, 9 were white and 3 were Asian.
The New York Police Department says the pandemic-related arrests fall into broad categories such as hate crimes, domestic violence and resisting arrest. They include fights that broke out over cutting supermarket lines and a bank robbery suspect who gave a note to a teller saying, “this is a bank robbery, I have COVID.”
“These are not social distancing arrests,” the department said in a statement. “Many were responses to calls for service where there was a clear victim and police took necessary action.”
Data released Friday showed that of the 374 summonses issued through May 5 for violating social distancing orders, 52% were given to black people and 30% to Hispanic people.
The Coronavirus Brief. Everything you need to know about the global spread of COVID-19
