A shocking video shows a NYC Parks staffer handcuffing a teenage girl suspected of selling fruit from an unauthorised cart in Lower Manhattan with her family.
A video posted on X shows a man in a NYC Parks uniform seizing a 14-year-old girl with one hand shackled, while enraged spectators shout and try to pull her away.
Bystanders shouted “Let her go!” and “Get a female [worker]” at the parks employee, even grabbing him to pull away the young girl, who was selling fruit from a cart with her family.
Chaotic video shows an NYPD cop grab the girl’s arm and try to pull her back before two witnesses remove her away from the officer and parks employee.
She and the parks staff fall on the ground as bystanders fight to release her.
Marc Rebillet, who recorded the incident, told Storyful that park staff tried to detain the girl and her family for selling fruit from a cart.
“NYPD detained the girl, released her, and then Parks tried to cuff her. Rebillet said people gathered to get the Parks officer off her.
He was flung to the ground with the girl, and she escaped in the scuffle. Mother was cuffed and taken to police car.”
Rebillet later reported seeing parks officers try to throw the unauthorised fruit cart in the skip.
“Okay, talk to the parents. DONT CUFF THE KID. Dangerous and embarrassing behaviour. Shame on Parks, NYPD, he wrote.
The Post said that a Department of Parks and Recreation representative said the parks officer is serving administrative duties as officials investigate.
The Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) prioritises educating violators to ensure compliance, according to a department statement.
When someone consistently break the law, we conduct extra enforcement steps and may arrest violators and obstructors.
Storyful reports a department investigation.
The NYPD informed The Post that it was supporting parks department personnel who were being abused by bystanders.
The 32-year-old mother received a desk appearance citation, and parks officials made a juvenile report about the 14-year-old event.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city would investigate because “no one wants to see a [child] handled in a way that can seem offensive and abusive.”
He said the “parent there is a habitual abuser” of illicit vending.