Freehold Man Arrested During Riot In New York City

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Freehold man was arrested Saturday during a riot in New York City and accused of vandalism.

Charles Edmonds, 37, was charged with rioting, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment of property, unlawful assembly and walking in the roadway, according to the New York Post.

Edmonds allegedly jumped on a silver Chevrolet sedan and shattered the front windshield.

Four others were arrested alongside him, all of them from Brooklyn. Police said they damaged and graffitied a vehicle.

“Last night, 40 to 50 anarchists dressed in black assembled at Crowley Park in Elmhurst and then entered our neighborhoods to vandalize," City Councilman Robert Holden said in a statement. "These rioters vandalized property, tore down American flags, turned over garbage cans, jumped on and spray-painted cars, and blocked traffic"

Mayor-elect Eric Adams and other officials said that the riot in Queens was unrelated to protests that had happened earlier in the day in Brooklyn about the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse and that they were taking advantage of the situation, according to PIX11.

“It’s one thing to protest at any elected official’s office… but to come to a neighborhood and openly destroy property, be disruptive and throw objects at the residents of the neighborhood — that is unacceptable in our city,” Adams said during a news conference in, according to the New York Post.

His father, Bruce, told the publication that Edmons is a Rutgers University grad and a middle school teacher in Freehold and has participated in numerous protests in the past.

“The NYPD takes its responsibility to protect the [First] Amendment rights of peaceful demonstrators seriously. Just as important is the safety of [New Yorkers and] the protection of property from people breaking the law in the name of protest. As seen tonight in Queens, they will be arrested,” the NYPD tweeted.

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