Astoria Cop Accused Of White Power Gesture At BLM Protest: Report

ASTORIA, QUEENS — An Astoria NYPD officer has been identified as the cop recorded flashing an apparent white power hand sign during a Black Lives Matter protest last year, after a court ruling paved the way for the release of previously-shielded police misconduct records.

Enrico Lauretta, who is white and is assigned to the NYPD's 114th Precinct, was caught on video making an "OK" hand sign at a May 31 protest in Manhattan's Union Square, according to a Gothamist news report and records from the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates NYPD misconduct.

White nationalists have appropriated the hand sign to represent the initials "W" and "P" for "white power," a use that started as a hoax online and has since been used as a subtle yet sincere expression of white supremacy, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shaun King (@shaunking)

The Civilian Complaint Review Board has since substantiated one allegation of "offensive language" against Lauretta and plans to prosecute the charge at an NYPD administrative trial, Gothamist reported.

After public outcry and media coverage of the incident last summer, the NYPD said the incident was under review, but did not respond to Gothamist's questions about that review.

Reached by phone, Lauretta told the news outlet that he did not want to speak "on anything."

Read more about the case in Gothamist.