Cecily McMillan is an American activist and advocate for prisoner rights in the United States who was arrested and subsequently convicted of felony second-degree assault after assaulting a New York City Police officer as he led her out of the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park on March 17, 2012. McMillan's highly publicized arrest and trial led to her being called a "cause célèbre of the Occupy Wall Street movement". McMillan claimed that her breast was grabbed and twisted by someone behind her, which she claims to have responded to by reflexively elbowing her perceived attacker in the face.[3] The officer involved, Grantley Bovell, testified that she deliberately assaulted him, a claim supported by video evidence showing McMillan "bending her knees, then throwing her right elbow into the officer's eye". She was arrested after a brief attempt to flee, and claims to have been beaten by police during her arrest. McMillan was convicted of felony second-degree assault on May 5, 2014, and was subsequently sentenced to three months in prison and five years of probation.
