The overflowing police cells in New York: 'I was screaming at them that I couldn't breathe and they just laughed'

When Nikko Lester was released from the NYPD’s Central Booking station, he was so discombobulated he could not be sure what time of day it was. His face was bloodied, his nose bent out of shape.

The 33-year-old from downtown Brooklyn did not know whether he sustained the injury from the police baton that had struck him during his arrest, the knee that then pinned him to the ground, or from the seizure that followed.

The musician says he had been out peacefully protesting with friends the night before - his first ever march - when he was rushed by four officers, pushed to the pavement and handcuffed.

“I kept saying over and over again, 'I didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything.' There had been no provocation,” he told the Telegraph. “They weren’t in any mood to listen.”

And just like that, another black man in America became a statistic.

Mr Lester is one of more than 1,500 people to be arrested in New York City since protests began over the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of heavy-handed Minneapolis cops.

New York’s jails are overflowing as the city - and the rest of the country - tries to put down the biggest civil unrest since the uprising that followed the assassination of rights activist Martin Luther King Jr in 1968.

No tear gas has been thrown or National Guard deployed here, unlike in other cities. Nevertheless, scenes of brutal crackdowns and mass arrests by the NYPD on Black Lives Matter demonstrators has caused outrage.

“I've seen so many black lives lost that I couldn’t stand here watching another and do nothing. All I know is I have to be on the right side of history,” Mr Lester said on why he had taken to the streets.

“It was my first ever real run-in with police and I realised during my arrest that these officers didn't care whether I lived or died. I was screaming at them that I couldn't breathe and they just laughed. I can imagine it is that feeling of worthlessness that is driving many to do what they are doing.”

Mr Lester and other recently released protesters the Telegraph spoke to outside police stations across the city said they had been denied phone calls and access to a lawyer, as well as being deprived of food. Those who sustained injuries from violent arrests say they were not offered medical attention.

They say they had also been crammed into crowded holding cells and had their facemasks taken away, against health advice issued to police officers to help limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Volunteer medics, lawyers and activists have been waiting outside the jails to offer support to those coming out at all times of the day and night. Word has spread and protesters have taken to writing their helpline number on their arms in permanent marker in case of arrest.

Mr Lester, who spent several hours handcuffed to a hospital bed followed by eight in a cell, only found out he was being accused of “unlawful assembly” when he was presented with a court summons upon release.

The charges handed down to demonstrators so far have ranged from the less serious ones of unlawful assembly and public disturbance to more serious felonies such as criminal damage and obstructing or assaulting an officer.

“There were as many as 70 in the 600sqm cell at some points during the night,” said Mr Lester. “There were black, caucasian, young and older guys in there with me. Most of us had been peacefully marching, a few were looters, while some appeared to have just been picked up by mistake,” he said.

One bystander was detained after stepping outside his apartment to check out what was going on. He was handcuffed before being given the chance to explain that his young children, who were upstairs sleeping, were now home alone. Another was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as he picked up a fast food takeout with his girlfriend.

The huge number of arrests has forced the city to reopen shuttered detention centres to make space. It has also created a strain on police stations’ processing powers, meaning hundreds of detainees have been held for longer than the statutory 24 hours.

One legal expert pointed to a more malign reason for the delays.

“This flagrant violation of law by the New York City Police Department appears to be designed to retaliate against New Yorkers protesting police brutality,” said Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge of Legal Aid’s Criminal Defense Practice.

While the protests have been peaceful by day, a smaller number of looters have ransacked midtown Manhattan by night. The scenes, which have been given wall-to-wall coverage by Donald Trump’s favourite news channels, prompted the president to order officials to do whatever they needed to to stamp out the “chaos” engulfing his hometown.

On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio doubled the deployment of officers on the street from 4,000 to 8,000 and imposed a curfew on the city for the first time since the Harlem race riots of 1943.

Officials have entered into an ugly blame game as they attempt to restore order.

Andrew Cuomo, the state’s governor, called the situation “a disgrace” and laid the responsibility on Mr de Blasio and the NYPD, the nation’s largest police force, with 38,000 officers.

“First, the NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night. I believe that,” Mr Cuomo said on Tuesday. “I believe the mayor underestimates the scope of the problem. I believe the mayor underestimates the duration of the problem.”

Mr de Blasio called the situation “a horrible, perfect storm we’re living through” and said the governor’s criticism was unfair.

The mayor, who has notoriously strained relations with fellow Democrat Mr Cuomo, has been accused of being too slow to respond and of defending what many New Yorkers see as an unchecked police force running riot.

A petition to impeach Mr de Blasio garnered more than 100,000 signatures in its first 24 hours.

Terence Monahan, the NYPD’s chief of department, meanwhile raged against Mr Cuomo, saying “his men” have been “giving their blood”. “I’m watching my men and women out there dealing with stuff that no cop should ever have to deal with - bricks, bottles, rocks,” he said.

Mr Lester, however, said their conduct in the last few days laid bare an endemic racism that still exists within the force.

While he says he will not allow the anger he feels over how he was treated to manifest itself in violence, he fears others could come to see it as the only answer.

“I don’t condone the looting, but they are the minority and the media should focus less on material sh** and more on people’s lives,” he told the Telegraph.

“You’ll notice that the looting and ransacking only started when we saw how the police responded to our peaceful protests. The looting will only stop when the police brutality stops.”