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Ulster County resident Samantha Shader, age 29, of Saugerties, was sentenced to 6 years behind bars Tuesday, Nov. 15, in federal court in Brooklyn.
It followed her April 2022 guilty plea to using an improvised incendiary device, commonly known as a Molotov cocktail.
According to the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District, Shader traveled from her home in Saugerties to Brooklyn on May 29, 2020, telling a friend she wanted to “go down to the City to cause some hell” while attending a planned march to protest Floyd’s killing.
She admitted to obtaining numerous glass bottles from the same friend, who prosecutors identified as 31-year-old Timothy Amerman, of Saugerties.
During a large protest march near the Brooklyn Museum, Shader can be seen on witness video lighting the wick of a Molotov cocktail and throwing it at a marked NYPD van that was occupied by four police officers who had been assigned to crowd control.
She then yelled at protesters around the van to “get out the mother (expletive) way!” according to prosecutors.
The Molotov cocktail struck the NYPD van, shattering two of its windows, but did not break or ignite.
Police quickly apprehended Shader, who resisted arrest and bit one officer on the leg, prosecutors said.
“The constitutionally protected right to peaceful protest is a core democratic value,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “Over the course of this nation’s history, protests have led to significant positive changes.
“But, throwing a potentially lethal device at an NYPD van occupied by four officers during a protest was an unacceptable and dangerous act, which put the officers and others present at risk,” he continued.
“This Office is committed to holding accountable those who, like this defendant, commit crimes that endanger the community and the lives of the dedicated officers of the NYPD.”
Following Shader’s arrest, the FBI learned that Amerman had provided her with glass bottles knowing they would be used as projectiles against police and counter-protesters.
He was arrested in July 2020 and later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit civil disorder.
He faces up to 5 years in prison.
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