Rioting, looting linked to George Floyd protests leaves trail of destruction across American cities

American cities are spending Monday morning digging out from scenes of destruction after demonstrations against the police-involved death of George Floyd gave way to a fifth straight night of looting and rioting, resulting in another wave of arrests.

As of Monday morning, at least 4,400 people have been taken into custody nationwide in relation to the chaos, according to an Associated Press tally. Meanwhile, countless more business owners whose livelihoods already have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic are finding their stores damaged and ransacked.

“It's one of the most challenging times that I’ve seen in my 30 years of policing,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told "Fox & Friends" on Monday after a night of looting in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood left sidewalks outside high-end retail stores littered with debris and broken glass. “I can tell you that we had thousands of police officers deployed last night.”

“In terms of protest, in terms of balancing orderly protest, respecting people’s rights to peacefully assemble, that was going on all day, large crowds in Brooklyn, smaller crowds in Queens, significant crowds in Manhattan," Dermot continued. “But then it turned dark, it turned ugly and it turned that way fast.”

The New York Post reports that police arrested dozens of looters in the Big Apple overnight. A witness told the newspaper that some of them acted in an apparent system where suspects would break into stores before leaping into getaway vehicles outside.

Videos on social media showed crowds targeting a wide array of businesses throughout Manhattan, emerging from shattered storefronts with everything ranging from Chanel handbags to bicycles.

The ongoing demonstrations that have gripped the U.S. and the entire world were sparked by the death of Floyd, a black man who pleaded for air as a Minneapolis officer pressed a knee into his neck. That officer – Derek Chauvin – has been charged with third-degree murder and reportedly has been transferred to a maximum-security prison.