(TheIndependentStar.com) – A shocking video has surfaced showing an NYC Parks employee holding a teenage girl in handcuffs after she allegedly sold fruit from an unlicensed cart in Lower Manhattan with her family.
Watch the video further down this post.
The video was taken in Battery Park and shared on X. It showed a man in uniform grabbing the 14-year-old girl in handcuffs while angry bystanders shouted in protest and tried to pull her away.
People can be heard shouting “Let her go!” and “Get a female [worker]” at the park employee, with some even grabbing at him to try and free the girl, who had been selling fruit from a cart with her family.
The chaotic footage also showed a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer grabbing the girl’s arm and trying to pull her back before two bystanders intervened, dragging her away from the officer and parks employee.
Marc Rebillet, who recorded the video, recounted that park employees tried to detain the girl and her family for selling fruit.
“NYPD first tried to detain the girl, then released her — then Parks got ahold of her and tried to cuff her. That’s when people started crowding around and trying to get the Parks officer off of her,” Rebillet said.
“He was thrown to the ground, brought the girl down with him, and in the ensuing struggle she managed to break free and escape. They cuffed the mother and put her in a police car.”
Moreover, a Department of Parks and Recreation spokesperson said that the parks officer has been assigned to administrative duties while officials investigate the incident.
“Our Parks Enforcement Patrol’s (PEP) first course of action is to educate in order to bring violators into compliance,” read a statement from the department.
“When individuals have repeatedly flouted the law, we take additional enforcement actions, and there are instances when it is necessary to place violators and individuals obstructing the law under arrest.”
In turn, the 32-year-old mother was given a desk appearance ticket, while parks officials wrote up a juvenile report detailing the incident with the 14-year-old.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city would investigate the incident, adding, “no one wants to see a [child] handled in a way that can seem offensive and abusive.”
But he noted that the “parent there is a habitual abuser” in terms of illegal vending.
This is what fucking @NYCParks and NYPD are busy doing on a Sunday afternoon…trying to put a twelve year old child in cuffs who’s selling fruit with her family pic.twitter.com/DexqxDgcJg
— MARC REBILLET (@marcrebillet) June 2, 2024
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