The 18-year-old son of a retired NYPD deputy inspector has been arrested for allegedly driving his BMW through a group of protesters in the West Village this week, leaving a teenager injured, according to authorities and police sources.
Justin Burgos of Staten Island was driving in the area about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday when he honked at the protesters, who were blocking the corner of Bleecker and West 10th streets with bicycles, and tried to pass them, police said.
As the demonstrators surrounded his Beemer, Burgos accelerated through the crowd, striking an 18-year-old, who suffered an injury to his right knee, cops said. The injured teen was treated by EMS at the scene.
Police charged Burgos of Rossville with leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle.
He also was slapped with a windshield violation.
Prosecutors later tossed some of the charges while keeping or adding others, ending up with reckless endangerment, reckless driving and obstruction of governmental administration. Burgos was freed without bail during his Thursday arraignment, as the charges are not bail-eligible.
Several people shot video of the incident, including photographer Leeroy Johnson, who wrote on Twitter that the car almost struck an officer.
User @AshAgony posted a video and wrote: “Protesters ran after the car & then cops ran after them & the car.”
The driver was stopped nearby at Grove and West Sixth streets, police said.
Burgos’s father is a former NYPD deputy inspector who retired in 2018, police sources said.
Wednesday night’s demonstration, held by a group called the “Black Kings,” called for the firing of NYPD Lt. Joseph Cuervo, according to the sources.
Cuervo and several other cops were sued in 2015 for allegedly mocking a man who was busted for marijuana possession — hurling homophobic slurs at him before beating him, a complaint shows.
The city settled the suit with a $150,000 payout to the plaintiff, Michael Watson.
Wednesday’s protest was led by Terrell Harper, a man who was allegedly captured on camera spewing racist slurs at an Asian NYPD Detective Vincent Cheung, a 16-year veteran, in March, according to police sources.
Harper, who is black, insisted that the video “was taken out of context.
“I was showing him what racism feels like since he put that uniform on and doesn’t know what’s going on with his people,” Harper said in May. “It was basically telling him to wake up. ‘You’re fighting in a racist system.’ ”
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods and Yaron Steinbuch
