E Harlem Board Rips MTA Police Surge After Candy Seller Arrest

EAST HARLEM, NY — The community board representing East Harlem is speaking out against Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to hire 500 additional police officers to patrol the subway system after video of the rough arrest of a candy seller in a Harlem subway station went viral.

Community Board 11 voted overwhelmingly this week to approve a resolution calling on Cuomo to immediately halt the plan to hire the 500 new officers and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., to reallocate $40 million in funding for the plan to programs that help rehabilitate people returning from prison.

The board's resolution cites a declining crime rate in the subway system and in East Harlem as reasons why the police surge is unnecessary. Board members also pointed out that people of color are disproportionately arrested for "quality of life" offenses such as fare evasion or subway vending.

"This resolution gives voice to members of our community who have been silenced, marginalized, abused and brutalized in the name of public safety," Community Board 11 member and Legal Aid Society attorney Jason Wu said in a statement.

Community Board 11's main influence for taking a stand against the MTA policing surge comes from within the board's district. A man selling candy in the East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue subway station was tackled to the platform floor, surrounded by cops and arrested this month. Police officials justified the arrest by stating that the man failed to produce ID when asked, but the Manhattan District Attorney declined to prosecute.

Video of the man's arrest went viral after it was posted to social media. The clip shows four cops piling on top of the man at the 125th street station as bystanders can be heard shouting, "He didn't do nothing," and accusing the officers of racial profiling.

The Harlem arrest was just the latest in a series of arrests that spurred backlash to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to deploy 500 additional police officers in the subway system to crack down on fare evasion.

East Harlem State Senator José M. Serrano announced his opposition to Cuomo's plan this week following the Community Board 11 vote.

Serrano released the following statement:

"Recent media reports of aggressive police tactics used against food vendors on our subway system show a misguided use of law enforcement resources while doing very little to make our system safer. The proposed plan for 500 additional MTA police officers for the stated purposes of combating homelessness, fare evasion and other presumed “quality of life” issues would criminalize many of our neighbors - mostly living in poverty - for their life circumstances, while further driving a wedge between community-police relations. For this reason I cannot support it."