Give this man a diplomatic job at the United Nations.
A clever Brooklyn father starred in a one-person negotiating team among hundreds of fellow demonstrators and dozens of NYPD officers at Park Slope on Friday night – alone to end the tension, after a tense curfew.
“They arrested their people,” said Randy Williams, 38, after the extraordinary detente he struck by approaching a NYPD captain when he and his colleagues gathered near the Grand Army Plaza.
“For the first time in a very long time the police and the community gathered,” Williams told The Post.
The father of four children and the captain made a deal: the protesters would still not commit violence if the police did too.
And the captain, he said, agreed to let the protests continue past 8 pm. curfew, at least for a while.
“I told the captain a little after 8 o’clock, we didn’t want the same thing from the night before,” when police used sticks to conquer protesters in the South Bronx who did not disperse after curfew, Williams said.
“I don’t want any of my people, which means protesters and people from this community, to be hurt the same way,” said Williams, a music producer.
“I do not want no officers to be injured. I told him that we remained in check, we still did not commit violence and last night he did not examine the officer.
“He made me promise tonight that he will ensure that all his officers are under control, and we will be allowed to protest peacefully past curfew.
“He won’t leave it on all night, but he’ll let us have a decent amount of time.”
He added, “I explained to them that we appreciate them letting us check the curfew and we appreciate them keeping their people under surveillance and upholding their bargaining side.
“I ask them to let us come out peacefully and not get hurt and not be handcuffed.”
The protesters used extra time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Breonna Taylor, a black EMT who was accidentally shot dead by white officers at her home in Louisville, Kentucky in March.
Taylor will be 27 years old on Friday.
Before the protesters dispersed – peacefully, unharmed and not handcuffed, as promised, around 9:40 a.m. – Williams and several other protesters share mounds of fists with half a dozen officers who 90 minutes earlier had marched against them.
“Someone at some point has to step up and become a bigger person,” Williams said before leaving.
“Because I see so many people hurt, I want to be that man.”
He added, “I show that we can trust them. Not all bad. “
