Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman are facing federal charges after they allegedly participated in a Molotov cocktail attack on an empty New York City Police Department vehicle during protests.
What We Know:
- Mattis has enviable educational pedigrees and raises three foster children and Rahman takes care of her elderly mother. They both are facing seven federal felony charges in which they face life in prison. Mattis and Rahman drove Mattis’ tan minivan late in the evening of May 29 to participate in Brooklyn’s protests. Rahman threw an explosive device at an empty NYPD car which already had its windows broken out. The report also says she, “attempted to distribute Molotov cocktails to several other individuals and to incite them to use the Molotov cocktails in the course of the protests”.
- Mattis was driving the vehicle and fled. He was captured and police found “precursor items” to build explosives in the van as well as a lighter, a Bud Light bottle stuffed with toilet paper and a gasoline tank. The two suspects have been indicted on the use of explosives, arson, and civil disorder. Prosecutors say although no one was injured, the events they participated in “came at the height” of protests and looting.
- Friends and lawyers who know Mattis and Rahman were in shock when they heard the news. Mattis’ attorney told the judge, “I could not overemphasize here the level of support that Colin has received from the Princeton community”. She believes the charges are “highly aberrational”. Mattis was raised in East New York and attended public school. He then attended St. Andrew’s School in Delaware where he published an essay that began his interest in social and economic justice issues.
- Rahman attended public school and attended Fordham University. She became interested in refugee rights and international human rights and won a fellowship to work as a lawyer in Turkey. She is described as someone who was “dedicated to helping underprivileged people”. Her lawyer believes her behavior was, “an aberrant act in the heat of the civil protests that have swept the country over police violence and systemic racism. Viewed in the context of her life, violence is clearly not Ms. Rahman’s way”.
56 former federal prosecutors took to a brief to court arguing that the federal prosecutors on Mattis and Rahman’s cases misconstrued the bail laws and believe they have been wrongly jailed.
