Long after the red double-decker bus carried the newly crowned Super Bowl champs through the Canyon of Heroes, hundreds of Giants fans turned celebration into chaos.
A deep blue mob rode roughshod through Lower Manhattan’s Franklin Street, going on a two-block rampage that left at least two arrested, and an unmarked police car destroyed.
The incident started innocently enough, in the middle of Broadway at the intersection of Franklin Street, when the unruly fans started climbing up street signs, surfing through the crowd, and chanting, “Let’s Go Giants!” But quickly the mood changed.
In a crude homage to Eli Manning, fans of Big Blue chucked beer bottles and cans into the air, hitting some of their fellow fans in the face and drenching them in froth. The police quickly stepped in, forcing the group down Franklin Street towards Sixth Avenue.
Not content to simmer down, the group became increasingly brash, briefly jumping onto the roofs of the cars lining Franklin Street as they pleaded for their comrades to cheer them on. The group continued to the intersection of Franklin and Church Streets where they came to a standstill in front of police barricades, continuing to chant and pop confetti into the crowd.
The situation reached its crux when individuals from the crowd climbed onto an unmarked police car parked just inside the barricades. People from the mob took turns atop the police cruiser, first jumping up and down on the trunk and hood, before moving to the roof to get a higher vantage point.
When it became clear that damage was being done to the car, some fans climbed on top of the vehicle, catapulted themselves into the air, and body slammed the roof, collapsing it entirely. Another fan stomped the windshield of the vehicle, leaving it in shambles.
Giants fan Mohamed Yousef, 22, watched the incident unfurl.
“A bunch of people just took their shirts off and jumped on top of the police car,” Yousef said. “It was stupid, crazy, and unnecessary.”
After the car had taken a five minute beat-in, police quickly apprehended two of the shirtless ruffians, slamming them to the ground and cuffing them. The arresting officer had no comment on the incident, but verified that the destroyed car was in fact a police cruiser.
Ars Metnak, 22, said he had seen the same group of fans jumping on top of a van near the Century 21 in the Financial District earlier in the day.
“I don’t get it, the way they are acting is crazy,” said Metnak.
In an ironic twist, Herman Maisonave, 47, of Queens, stood just around the corner from where the perps sat in handcuffs, holding up a sign that read, “Please don’t arrest me. I’m not occupying Wall Street, just celebrating a Giants win!”
“I’m just here to poke fun at the NYPD, and give Giants fans something to laugh at,” Maisonave said. “I saw this coming.”
And while the rest of the dispersed mob lauded Maisonave’s sign as they walked by, the longtime Giants fan had harsh words for those that caused the bedlam.
“What they did, puts a sour note on all Giants fans,” he said.
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[…] superbowl parade, and ran across a rather riled up pack of inebriated fans. You can see the story here. After an initial police confrontation, the fans went on a rampage, running down the street, […]