Harlem Candy Seller Arrested In Subway Won't Be Prosecuted: DA

HARLEM, NY — A man who was arrested for selling candy in a Harlem subway station won't face prosecution, a spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney confirmed.

Prosecutors determined that Byron Shark's actions "did not constitute obstruction of governmental administration under New York law," the DA's spokesman said in a statement. Video of police officers surrounding Shark and arresting the man on the floor of the West 125th Street and Lexington Avenue subway went viral amid the recent surge of arrests in the subway system.

Shark was arrested Tuesday night after police officers in the station approached the man while he was selling candy to passengers, police said. The man was placed in cuffs because he "failed to comply and refused to provide identification as they attempted to issue him a summons for a transit violation," according to a statement posted on the NYPD Transit division's Twitter account.

Video shows four cops piling on top of the man at the 125th Street station on Lexington Avenue Tuesday night, according to the activist group Decolonize This Place. Bystanders can be heard shouting, "He didn't do nothing," and accusing the officers of racial profiling.

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

Elected officials and advocates rallied at Brooklyn's Broadway Junction station earlier this week following the arrest of a woman selling churros in the transit hub. A second churro vendor was arrested at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn three days later.

Community Board 11, which represents parts of East and Central Harlem, is planning to condemn the governor's policing plan in the wake of the Shark's arrest. The board's executive committee voted Thursday to adopt a resolution demanding Cuomo halt the hiring of the 500 new transit cops. The resolution also calls on Manhattan District Attorney withdraw 40 million dollars in funding for the plan and allocate the money for civil re-entry programs instead, a board member told Patch.

Decolonize This Place is also organizing a Friday night protest to address the candy seller's arrest. Protesters are planning to meet at Harlem's Harriet Tubman Memorial at 5:15 p.m. The last protest organized by the group, in reaction to two violent October arrests in Brooklyn subway stations, drew hundreds of people.

Outgoing NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill spoke about concerns regarding the arrests on Thursday.

"People need to feel safe in the subway. And you think 'well, someone selling candy - what does that have to do with safety? Someone selling churros, what does that have to do with safety?' It may have something to do with disorder," O'Neill told reporters Thursday.