EXPLOSIVE

Two Attorneys Charged in Molotov Cocktail Attack on NYPD Van

The Princeton-educated attorney and human rights lawyer face up to 20 years in prison.

Two New York City attorneys were charged in connection with the Molotov cocktail attack that set a police car dashboard on fire during anti-police-brutality protests in Brooklyn Saturday. Urooj Rahman, 31, is accused of throwing the explosive device into an unoccupied police van and escaping in a car driven by Colinford Mattis, 32. Another woman, Samantha Shader, was charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD vehicle with four police officers inside.

Rahman is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law and previously identified herself as a human rights lawyer in a Facebook post, according to The New York Times. Mattis is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University School of Law and works at commercial law firm Pryor Cashman, where he was one of several associates furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm told Law.com it would review Mattis’ employment status after collecting more information this week. Shader is a resident of Catskill, New York.

All three defendants are charged with causing damage to a police vehicle by fire and explosives and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to charges filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.