During Friday’s edition of the “peaceful protests” in New York City, one self-described leader of the local Black Lives Matter chapter was seen assaulting an NYPD officer using a bullhorn. Nearly a dozen police responded to the incident, seeking to take Derrick Ingram into custody, but Ingram’s supporters swarmed onto the scene, leading to a six-hour standoff between the mob and the cops. In the end, Ingram escaped the area but then showed up to turn himself in at the local precinct on Saturday. And because this is New York City, he was immediately released without bail to go back out to the streets and pick up where he left off. To say that the police are displeased by this turn of events is an understatement. (CBS New York)

A Black Lives Matter protest leader was free Saturday after he turned himself in to face charges for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Twenty-eight-year-old Derrick Ingram is accused of shouting into a bullhorn that was aimed at a police officer’s ear during a June protest, causing pain and hearing impairment.

Dozens of officers tried to arrest Ingram on Friday during a six-hour standoff in Midtown.

Ingram’s supporters showed up at the scene, and officers were then ordered to back off, a move that’s been criticized by police unions.

The handling of this incident was pretty much bungled from the beginning. The assault on the officer may not sound like much since there wasn’t any physical contact, but Ingram held a bullhorn directly up to the officer’s ear and began screaming into it, leading to hearing impairment and physical pain. That’s still an assault by any definition and Ingram should have been immediately taken into custody. And just for the record, once you’ve assaulted a police officer, you are no longer a “protester.” You are the mob.

And he probably would have been taken into custody were it not for the need for backup because the NYPD was significantly outnumbered by people showing zero fear of or respect for the police. By the time more cops arrived, Ingram had his own small army of supporters present. That was when Police Commissioner Shea gave the order for the cops to stand down and back off. That allowed Ingram to escape and infuriated the police unions. Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to walk a line down the middle, calling any assault on a police officer “unacceptable” but still insisting Shea made the correct call.

All the Mayor and the Commissioner have done here is feed into the problem the NYPD is already facing. Once an officer is assaulted, the perpetrator needs to be arrested immediately by whatever means necessary. Once they had a dozen or so cops on the scene, they could have pulled Ingram from the crowd. If his “supporters” refused to back off, they should have gone in with guns drawn. It’s a dangerous situation, but sometimes the police have to confront potential violence with the threat of force.

Backing down in front of the mob only reinforced the idea that they can do whatever they want and get away with it. This is why we’ve seen so many instances of disrespect for and minor assaults upon NYPD officers over the past year. Once those wishing to break the law lose their fear of the police, all bets are off. Friday’s events only further emboldened them.

And then we have the question of bail. New “bail reform” laws be damned. When you’ve assaulted a police officer, you should either be behind bars or paying a stiff amount of bail to ensure you show up for your court date. Letting Ingram walk scot-free and return to his “supporters” for a hero’s welcome further reinforced the idea that the rioters have already won the war and now control the streets. If this situation could have been handled more poorly, I can’t imagine how.