Azi Paybarah

The announcement set off criticism after several recent bystander videos showed physical altercations between uniformed officers and various people in the subway.

Then, on Friday, the “churro lady’’ was placed in handcuffs.

Cellphone video from a bystander captured New York Police Department officers detaining a woman who was selling churros — a fried dough snack — inside a Brooklyn subway station.

By Monday, as activists were protesting that encounter, another woman selling churros in a different Brooklyn train station was arrested, a police spokeswoman confirmed. A photo of that arrest was posted on Twitter by a commuter.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has at times had a tense relationship with the police, defended the actions the police took on Friday. “I understand the facts. The facts are she was there multiple times and was told multiple times that’s not a place you can be, and it’s against the law and it’s creating congestion,” de Blasio said at an unrelated event Monday.

“She shouldn’t have been there,” he added, and “the officers comported themselves properly, from what I could see.”

City officials need to “really engage” with local residents and explain to them “that that’s not an acceptable behavior so it never comes down to a situation like that,” de Blasio said.

Cuomo, a Democrat in his third term, told reporters on Monday that he had not seen the video and declined to say whether the police had acted appropriately. “I don’t know anything about this specific food vendor case, so I leave that to the NYPD,” he said.

He noted, however, that the encounter involved Police Department officers, not officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state-run transit agency that oversees the subway and has its own police force.

The hiring of 500 MTA officers — who would not be part of the city police force — is meant “to combat violent incidents including robberies and assaults on transit workers, and hate crimes,” said Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for Cuomo.

Cuomo has previously said the extra officers are needed to combat fare evasion and to address issues like homelessness.

The subway, which is already patrolled by 2,500 Police Department officers, has seen a decrease in most major felonies.

In the video posted on Twitter on Friday, a woman can be seen surrounded by three uniformed officers and a fourth officer in plain clothes inside the Broadway Junction stop. The woman cries, speaks in Spanish with the officers and points to her cart, which is full of food.

One officer tells the woman that she can either turn over her cart and receive a fine or face arrest and have the cart confiscated, the woman who posted the video said on Twitter.

The officers eventually handcuffed the vendor and dragged her cart up a flight of stairs inside the station.

The woman was released shortly after and given a ticket, police officials said.

In a statement posted on Twitter, a top New York City police official said the woman had “received 10 summonses in the past 6 months.”

“Our officers have been responding to a number of recent complaints of violations at this station, including the unlawful and unlicensed sale of food and other products,” the official, Edward Delatorre, the chief of transit for the Police Department, said on Twitter.

Delatorre did not specify what the woman was charged with or identify her by name.

“She was not arrested,” he said, but rather “she was briefly cuffed” after she “refused to comply” with officers, who he said spoke to her in English and Spanish. Her property was “invoiced,” and she was released “with another summons.”

But after the cellphone video became widely shared, a backlash to the encounter was swift and widespread. A protest in support of the churro vendor took place on Monday afternoon at the Broadway Junction stop.

The vendor spoke to reporters at the protest and said that the police had laughed at her. She also said she had been selling churros in the neighborhood for three years. The woman, who identified herself as Elsa, said she pleaded with the police not to take her cart. “Please don’t do that,” she said, speaking through a translator, Wilfredo Florentino, a member of a local community board.

The officers “became very aggressive and violent, and they grabbed the cart,” she said, as she started crying in front of the crowd.

Elsa said she was detained for 10 minutes, was given a summons and had all her merchandise confiscated.

“They took absolutely everything away from her, she was left crying and broken,” Florentino said.

Elsa has five children, four of whom live in her native Ecuador, Florentino said.

Selling food without a license in the subway is prohibited under Metropolitan Transportation Authority rules, but it rarely leads to an arrest.

Churro vendors, many of whom are women, with pushcarts are a common sight in many subway stations. In train cars, it is not uncommon to see young men selling candy bars and snacks.

Andy Byford, the subway leader, declined to comment on the episode, telling Fox 5 New York that the case was under litigation. But, he said, “I watched the video and it’s hard not to feel sorry for the lady.”

Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a retired police captain, said there was nothing wrong with enforcing the rules barring selling unlicensed food. But on Friday, the implementation of the rules had gone astray. “It’s not what the police did, it was how the police did it,” Adams said in an interview.

“Correcting the condition of selling sweet treats in the subway should not end up with handcuffs,” said Adams, who is expected to run for mayor in 2021. “If we can’t correct someone selling an item in the subway without placing them under arrest, we are failing as a Police Department, and that’s the message that people saw.”

State Sen. Julia Salazar, whose district includes the Broadway Junction subway stop, said the video shows officers “criminalizing” a person who was trying to make a living.

This article originally appeared in

A Woman Selling Churros Was Handcuffed. The Police Face a Backlash.

NEW YORK — When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered the deployment of 500 extra police officers to patrol New York City’s subway, he said they were needed to tackle a rise in crime.

Now, voters can decide whether to empower the board to conduct its own inquiries into police officers’ statements.

The issue is among five ballot questions that New York City voters will decide Tuesday, but there’s a twist: Question No. 2, which covers the Civilian Complaint Review Board, has five parts. The question covers four other changes to the board’s makeup and operations; a yes-or-no vote would apply to all five issues.

The same all-or-nothing approach applies to four other suggested City Charter revisions; in all, the five ballot questions comprise 19 proposals.

Read the fine print

On the first page of the ballot are candidates for local offices. The only citywide race is for public advocate, where the Democratic incumbent, Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn, faces Councilman Joseph Borelli, a Republican from Staten Island.

There is a district attorney’s race in Queens, in which Melinda Katz, a Democrat, is heavily favored over Joe Murray, a Republican. Depending on where you live, there may be candidates running for various judgeships.

The five ballot questions are on the second page. Because each one comprises several proposed changes to the City Charter, Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, described the process as “voting in bulk.”

This, she said, might lead voters to ask themselves questions like, “If I slightly disagree with Part 3 of Question 3, do I vote no? Or do I suck it up and vote yes?”

Greer said it took her 45 minutes to read the five ballot questions, and the voter guide from the New York City Campaign Finance Board. She wondered, “Who is going to spend more than five minutes in a voting booth?”

You can see a sample ballot by typing your address into the New York City Board of Elections website; clicking “Ballot Information” on the top right; and, on the next page, clicking “view sample ballot.”

You can also read each question, as well as comments in support of and opposition to each one, on the Campaign Finance Board’s website.

Each question is more than 100 words long. For English speakers, the questions total more than 950 words. The questions are also printed in Spanish, an addition of 1,200 words.

To get all those words — more than 2,100 of them — on a single ballot page, they were printed in tiny, seven-point type, according to a Board of Elections spokeswoman.

Question 1: Elections

The main proposal here would create ranked-choice voting for primary and special elections, starting in 2021.

Instead of voting for just one candidate, voters would be asked to rank up to five candidates in order of preference.

Under this system, if no candidate gets at least 50% of the vote, the lowest-performing candidate is knocked out. If your first choice is eliminated, your vote goes to your next highest-ranked candidate. This process continues until one candidate gets at least 50% of the vote.

Supporters say these changes empower voters and encourage candidates to compete for broader swaths of support. Critics said the new system might confuse voters.

The other main changes being proposed are extending the length of time before a special election can be held, and requiring that City Council districts be redrawn before candidates start their efforts to get on the ballot.

Question 2: Civilian Complaint Review Board

If passed, this would allow the review board to investigate and potentially prosecute officers suspected of lying during a review board investigation.

Currently, the board recommends those cases to the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau for further action.

In both instances, disciplinary matters are ultimately decided by the police commissioner; that would not change under this proposal.

Police reform advocates support this move. “There seems to be evidence that some officers are not telling the truth,” Maya Wiley, a former chairwoman for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, said in an interview. And to law enforcement, she added, “that is detrimental.”

Even some staunch supporters of law enforcement favor it. Borelli, the public advocate candidate, who has attended numerous Blue Lives Matters events, told Gotham Gazette, “If that was a stand-alone bill, I’d probably support that.”

People debating this question have also focused on two other changes covered in the ballot issue. One would give the review board’s executive director the power to authorize subpoenas. Currently, the board issues subpoenas through a vote of its board members, usually at monthly meetings.

The other would require the police commissioner to send a written note to the review board whenever he or she deviates from disciplinary recommendations made by the board or departmental judges.

Supporters of the changes say they would reshape the Police Department’s culture and improve investigations. Opponents including the Police Benevolent Association, the labor union representing officers, say they would have “a chilling effect on law enforcement that will make the city less safe.”

Borelli said he decided to vote against the measure, in part, because it was tied to other proposals he opposed. “I believe an expansion of CCRB powers is neither warranted nor needed,” he wrote in a text message to The Times.

Question 3: Ethics and government

If approved, it will extend the ban applied to officials lobbying their former agency colleagues to two years.

Currently, there is a one-year ban on this type of activity when people leave public service.

It would also restrict campaign activities for members of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board, who act like referees on local ethics matters. The board members would, for example, be barred from participating in local campaigns.

Supporters say the changes would bolster the public’s confidence in the board. Others question whether they would unfairly restrict the First Amendment rights of some city employees.

Question 4: City budget

This proposal would allow the city to employ a “rainy day” fund. State approval would still be required to create the fund.

The city is currently barred from creating this type of fund, though mayoral administrations have found creative ways to squeeze money from one year’s budget for use in another year.

Critics, like the Libertarian Party, say a fund would discourage tax cuts or simply operate as a slush fund for lawmakers. Supporters, including the fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission, said the move would provide the city with financial stability.

The other main proposal here would set minimum funding levels for the offices of public advocate and borough presidents.

Question 5: Land use

Every inch of New York City is controlled by one zoning rule or another. To deviate from them, a person or business needs permission from the City Council. It also helps to get the local community board’s backing.

If this proposal is approved, developers seeking that kind of approval would have a summary of their plans sent to the local community board earlier in the review process.

The proposal would also extend the length of time during the summer when community boards can respond to those plans.

Numerous good government groups favor this, saying community boards play an important role in urban planning. And the extra time in June and July is needed, they argue, because the boards are run by residents who often do not meet in the summer.

But the proposal has met resistance. For example, Tom Angotti, a veteran urban planner, said it failed to include funding for professionals to assist community boards in their analysis.

New York's 5 Ballot Questions: What You Need to Know

If a New York City police officer gives a suspected false statement during a Civilian Complaint Review Board inquiry, the investigator has few options. At most, investigators can refer the matter to Police Department officials for possible review.

The New York City medical examiner’s office concluded in August that Epstein hanged himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

But the private pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, said on the morning TV show “Fox &amp; Friends” that Epstein, 66, experienced a number of injuries — among them a broken bone in his neck — that “are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation.”

“I think that the evidence points to homicide rather than suicide,” said Baden, who observed the autopsy done by city officials.

Baden, a former New York City medical examiner and a Fox News contributor, added, “I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case.”

The findings by Baden were strongly disputed by the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, who previously ruled that Epstein’s death Aug. 10 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center was a suicide.

“I stand firmly behind our determination of the cause and manner of death in this case,” Sampson said in an interview Wednesday. She added: “In general, fractures of the hyoid bone and the cartilage can be seen in suicides and homicides.”

The hyoid is a bone near the Adam’s apple in a man.

Sampson also dismissed Baden’s contention that the circumstances around Epstein’s death suggested other people may have been involved. She said her office had done a “complete investigation,” taking into consideration information gathered by law enforcement in making the determination.

“No one finding can be taken in isolation,” she said.

Baden served briefly as New York City’s medical examiner. He was provisionally appointed to the position in 1978 and dismissed just a year later, by Mayor Edward I. Koch. In later years, he went on to work as a consultant on a number of high-profile cases.

On Wednesday, Baden said Epstein had “three fractures in the hyoid bone, the thyroid cartilage.” He said those injuries were “very unusual for suicide and more indicative of strangulation — homicidal strangulation.”

The autopsy also showed Epstein had several bones broken in his neck. But the city medical examiner said Epstein’s death was “hanging” and the manner was “suicide.”

Before that determination was made public, an article in The Washington Post noted Epstein’s injuries included a broken hyoid bone, an injury that could have been a sign of strangulation, as well as suicide by hanging.

The article helped fuel conspiracy theories that speculated Epstein may have been killed in order to prevent him from ensnaring his coterie of rich and powerful friends into his legal woes.

At the time, several medical officials cautioned against relying solely on the broken hyoid as evidence of strangulation. “It’s not a slam dunk,” Marcella Sorg, a forensic anthropologist, said in an interview. She said a broken hyoid is “a sign of neck trauma” that can occur in both strangulation and hanging cases.

Dr. Burton Bentley II, head of Elite Medical Experts, a consulting firm based in Arizona, echoed that skepticism. “It’s not 100%,” he said. “It’s not even going to get us to 90%.”

The death led to several investigations into how a high-profile inmate apparently killed himself just weeks after he was placed on suicide watch after a failed attempt to take his own life.

Epstein was a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender. He used his money and connections to get a widely criticized plea deal in Florida in 2008 after several teenage girls gave sworn statements to police stating that Epstein had sexually abused them at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. He spent 13 months in jail but was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, six days a week.

In July, federal officials arrested Epstein at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and charged him with sex trafficking. He was accused of luring numerous underage girls to his homes in New York City and Florida then coercing them perform sex acts with him for money.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had no comment on Baden’s statements about Epstein’s death.

The criminal case against Epstein was closed after his death, but in the final court hearing in August, Epstein’s lawyers said they were not satisfied with the city medical examiner’s findings.

On Wednesday, one of the lawyers, Martin Weinberg, said Baden’s comments on Fox were consistent with the concerns he had previously raised.

This is hardly the first time Baden has generated headlines. In 1979, the city health commissioner wrote a letter to Koch — who was the mayor at the time — saying that Baden had “exhibited poor judgment in many instances,” including when he said that it appeared former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller “had died during sexual intercourse.” He denied saying the remark.

In 1995, when O.J. Simpson was on trial for the murders of his former wife and her companion, Baden testified that evidence pointed to Simpson’s innocence. He said that the timeline of Simpson’s whereabouts that night would not have given him enough time to commit the murders.

Baden, who was featured in an HBO documentary series about his work, estimated he has conducted more than 20,000 autopsies.

Epstein's Death Was a Homicide, a Private Pathologist Contends

A forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein’s brother disputed the official finding in the autopsy of his death, claiming Wednesday that the evidence suggested that he did not take his own life but may have been strangled.

Epstein's Autopsy 'Points to Homicide,' Pathologist Hired by Brother Claims

A forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein’s brother said Wednesday that evidence suggested that Epstein did not die by suicide but may have been strangled.

The latest effort: an online petition signed by more than 290,000 people seeks to officially rename one block of Fifth Avenue — where, you guessed it, Trump Tower is located — as President Barack H. Obama Avenue.

Sounds like a simple enough request, considering how unpopular Trump is among the city’s residents. It’s not.

The local community board has a long-standing moratorium against renaming streets.

The councilman who represents the area said he opposed the petition.

And Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker and a progressive Democrat who can muscle through legislation he favors, said he opposed the renaming, too.

Johnson, who effectively determines whether the renaming will happen, said in a statement, “As much as I love the idea of celebrating President Obama, I am not positive this is the best way.”

“The Obamas epitomize class, dedication to public service and respect for the Oval Office,” he added. “I’m pretty confident we can find a better way to honor the greatest president of my lifetime than by trolling the worst president of my lifetime.”

Councilman Keith Powers, a Democrat, said, “While this is a fun and clever idea, the best way to protest the president is to go back and win the White House.”

Powers also cautioned against losing focus of more important matters.

“I feel like we’re engaging in the game that the other side wants us to play if we start doing this tit for tat thing,” he said. “I think we should find the next Obama, and put them in the White House.”

Besides, Powers said, “I actually think Obama wouldn’t like it.”

The petition to rename this part of Fifth Avenue was started a few months ago by Elizabeth Rowin, 56, an artist and retired legal secretary from Los Angeles who is currently in New York accompanying her husband, a filmmaker.

“I understand that it’s petty and it’s trolling,” Rowin said in an interview. But, she said, “I think people who actually live in the district would like it.”

A wide range of people have been honored by having their name added to a street sign in the city.

City officials said there was a long-standing practice of reserving that honor for people who are deceased.

Two former mayors had their names added to public structures — but not streets — during their lifetime. In 2010, Queensboro Bridge was renamed after Ed Koch, who died three years later. In 2015, the Municipal Building across the street from City Hall was named after David Dinkins.

Last month, the City Council voted to add names to 86 streets and public spaces in the city. Among those honored were Audre Lorde, the state’s first female and first black poet laureate, in Staten Island; Police Officer George Scheu, in Queens, and rapper Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace of Brooklyn.

One street on Staten Island was also named for the Wu-Tang Clan rap group; nearly all of its members are still alive. A City Council spokeswoman said groups and organizations can be honored before they are defunct.

Renaming usually requires the support of local residents and the City Council member, before it is presented to the 51-member New York City Council for a vote. To streamline the process, the names are collected into a single bill presented to the Council once a year for a vote.

Still, Rowin stands behind her idea: “It’s fun to poke fun at someone who you find to be a poor representative of your city.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/nyregion/newyorktoday/barack-obama-avenue.html" id="7ed7b0de-e88e-3fa5-a9d7-d3b13cedef6c">The New York Times</a>.

Trump Tower on Obama Avenue: 290,000 Say Yes, but It Won't Happen

NEW YORK — New Yorkers have been finding more and more ways to protest President Donald Trump, from stripping his name off buildings he once built to holding demonstrations outside his midtown Manhattan home/office.

<h1>NEW YORK — When the Police Athletic League two weeks ago announced Bill O’Reilly as the speaker for its monthly business luncheon, organizers hoped the conservative writer and former Fox News host would be a big draw and raise a significant amount of money.</h1>

But the invitation led one board member to resign and drew criticism from the National Organization for Women. Then, Monday evening, after The New York Times inquired about O’Reilly’s appearance, the organization abruptly withdrew from Tuesday’s event and said it would not accept money raised from it, Executive Director Frederick Watts said.

“We want speakers to bring light and good will to PAL,” Watts said. “This speaker was distracting, and it seemed inconsistent with that goal. It’s not much more complicated than that.”

O’Reilly was pushed out of his job with Fox in 2017 after The Times reported he had been accused of sexual harassment by five women. His accusers agreed not to pursue litigation or speak out about the accusations in return for payouts that totaled about $13 million from the network or O’Reilly.

O’Reilly’s departure helped usher in the #MeToo movement, and since then more than 200 powerful men in several industries have lost their positions as a result of sexual harassment allegations.

The Police Athletic League is a century-old organization closely linked to the New York Police Department that runs after-school and recreational events for children. Its motto is “The Best Friend a Kid Can Have,” and the police commissioner is an honorary president of the board. The league also lists a number of city agencies and law enforcement offices as partners. In 2016, it reported more than $28 million in total revenue.

Sonia Ossorio, president of National Organization for Women in New York City and a commissioner on the city’s Commission for Gender Equity, said inviting O’Reilly to speak at the athletic league’s fundraising luncheon sent the wrong message to the city’s youth.

“It’s grotesque,” Ossorio said. “Of course as a role model for positive manhood, few could fail the test as clearly as Bill O’Reilly.”

O’Reilly did not respond to an email seeking comment. This past week, he told a gossip columnist, “The Police Athletic League is dear to me.”

Since 2017, O’Reilly has struck out on his own, continuing to write a string of best-selling books and speaking to his nearly 5 million followers on Twitter and Facebook as well as through his own website. Currently, O’Reilly is working on a book about President Donald Trump.

Before PAL withdrew from the event, the police commissioner and the Manhattan district attorney decided not to attend, citing scheduling conflicts, spokesmen for the two officials said. They declined to comment on whether O’Reilly’s presence at the event was a factor in their decisions.

Two of the league’s board members have also recently resigned, and one of them cited O’Reilly’s speech as a reason, according to PAL co-Vice Chairman John Catsimatidis. He declined to name that board member.

Catsimatidis, a Republican who is a major donor to political campaigns and was instrumental in inviting O’Reilly, defended the decision, brushing aside concerns about past accusations of sexual harassment. His motive, he said, was simply to sell tickets.

“Me and my staff decide who are best and easiest sellers, to sell out the crowds,” he said. “It’s all about the kids.”

Catsimatidis said O’Reilly had informed him that he had “never been convicted” of abusing the women and had agreed to pay the settlements as a matter of convenience. “He never pleaded guilty, and we still live in America where you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Catsimatidis said.

PAL received a donation from O’Reilly on Monday morning, a rarity for a person already donating their time and star power to sell tickets to the luncheon, Catsimatidis said.

He also suggested the complaints about the speech may have been part of an orchestrated effort by outside agitators to stir discontent, but provided no details or evidence.

“Who is paying these people to stir the pot?” he asked.

This article originally appeared in <a id="f7370463-bf32-4e1d-a886-4663f3daea4f" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/nyregion/bill-oreilly-police-athletic-league.html">The New York Times</a>.

Police charity invites O'Reilly to be big draw for an event, instead, outrage ensues

Then, Monday evening, after The New York Times inquired about O’Reilly’s appearance, the organization abruptly withdrew from Tuesday’s event and said it would not accept money raised from it, Executive Director Frederick Watts said.

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