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ALBANY — Two pipeline opponents were arrested during a protest at the TD Bank on State Street Thursday.
A city police officer’s finger was fractured as he answered the response.
Police said at 12:40 p.m., officials at the 125 State St. bank called their neighborhood beat officer requesting him to respond to the protest against the bank’s financial interest in the Dakota Access Pipeline in South Dakota.
About 25 protesters were refusing to leave the bank, whereupon the officer told them they had to take the protest outside. All but three complied.
Despite several warnings, Rebecca Rothstein, 26, of Troy “became erratic and would Betpas not comply,” police said. As the officer tried to place Rothstein into custody, Craig Evans, 26, of Arlington Vt., interfered, causing the officer’s finger to be fractured, police said.
Rothstein also allegedly poured paint on a bank counter.
The officer, who was not named, was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital for an evaluation.
Rothstein and Evans were taken into custody and charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest and trespass. They are scheduled for arraignment Friday morning in Albany City Court.
More than a dozen banks are financing the $3.8 billion, 1,100-mile project to bring oil from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to southern Illinois. Protesters were also at the Albany TD Bank branch in December and have been at several branches in Maine.
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