Colinford Mattis (born in 1988) is accused of driving a van while passenger Urooj Rahman, threw a Molotov cocktail into a police cruiser during protests related to the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin (Police Officer) in Minneapolis.^[1]

If convicted, each will face up to 20 years behind bars, with a mandatory minimum of 5 years.

Arraignment was set to take place on Monday, June 1st, 2020, two days after the incident occurred.

^[2] Mattis is a furloughed Lawyer (Associate) of the Pryor Cashman Firm in New York City.

Colinford Mattis started his career as an Advisor at Prep for Prep for middle school students in the Summer of 2006. The following year, Mattis interned for Buckingham Research Group as an Investment Research Specialist and became President of the Princeton University Black Student Union.

From 2009 - 2015, Mattis interned at various well established companies and local government offices such as, Microsoft (Innovation and Intellectual Property Group Legal Intern), San Francisco Mayor's Office (Anti-Poverty Program Intern), AnewAmerica Community Corporation (Markets & Loans Acquisition Intern) and lastly worked for Teach For America as a Middle School Math and Science Lead Teacher before starting at Holland & Knight LLP Firm in May 2015, as a Corporate Associate. Mattis then landed a job at Pryor Cashman firm in New York Cit y, late 2018.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York. The bilingual (Spanish) and self-proclaimed "Problem Solver by Nature" Ivy League Alumni was part of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, who attend Princeton University from 2006 - 2010, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology. While at Princeton University, Mattis conducted an independent study in Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. In addition, Colinford attended a highly competitive Summer Venture at the Harvard Business School prior to his senior year. Lastly, Mattis later completed a Juris Doctor degree at the New York University School of Law in 2016. ^[3]

On the early morning of Saturday May 30, 2020 police officers chased and stopped the van driven by Colinford Mattis, accompanied by Urooj Rahman (also a registered attorney) in the passenger seat, on Willoughby Street (New York) then later found another Molotov cocktail in the rear seat along with a gas can. The attempted torching was recorded by nearby video surveillance cameras outside precinct station house on Dekalb Avenue, according to court papers.^[1] The 31 year old New York City registered lawyer, Urooj Rahman, tossed a bottle filled with gas through a broken glass window into an empty police cruiser early Saturday morning, but failed to ignited. Later on both lawyers jumped into the van and sped off.

Urooj Rahman, a recent Law School graduate from Fordham University School of Law, was known as "an angel" according to the super of Rahman's building and also stated she had recently lost her legal job. ^[1] The furloughed Associate, Colinford Mattis, was also a member of the Brooklyn Community Board 5 in East New York, in which no comment has been given. A managing partner of Mattis said the following to the New York Post:

The relationship between Mattis and Rahman is still unknown.

^[2]