A New York City Council member was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly bit an NYPD officer during a rally protesting a planned homeless shelter, police said.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Susan Zhuang was taken into custody during a rally in Gravesend, Brooklyn, the NYPD said.
Zhuang, whose district includes Gravesend, Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights, faces charges of second- and third-degree assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration, the department said.
“[Under] no way shape or form is it acceptable to assault and/or bite a New York City police officer,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a news briefing Wednesday.
Zhuang was arrested while protesting the construction of a proposed men’s homeless shelter on 86th Street in Gravesend. The project, supported by City Hall, is estimated to hold up to 150 single men.
Chell said the protest grew from 150 people to almost 300 people.
Footage circulating on social media showed a chaotic struggle between NYPD officers and protesters including Zhuang ensuing at the site.
A City Hall spokesperson, citing information from police, said officers were trying to aid a woman who was on the ground when Zhuang and other protesters grabbed police barriers and pushed them against the officers.
When one of the officers tried to pull Zhuang away from the barriers, she bit the officer and resisted arrest, the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Zhuang confirmed that she was taken into custody at the rally.
City Hall’s spokesperson said the Adams administration plans to open a shelter at the site later this year.
In a statement provided to NY1, the spokesperson said the administration “is committed to building this much needed shelter — the first of its kind in this community — which will offer New Yorkers experiencing homelessness the critical care they need to get back on their feet.”
“The owner of this building has the proper permitting required to demolish the existing building. Every community must have the resources they need to support their most vulnerable neighbors, and this community has no shelters,” the spokesperson said. “Working with our nonprofit partners, we will provide robust support to help future shelter residents stabilize their lives and move into permanent housing. We maintain open lines of communication with the community and remain committed to ongoing engagement to address the neighborhoods’ needs.”
Zhuang was taken to the 62nd Precinct after she was arrested, the NYPD said.
“Councilwoman Zhuang has been a great partner with the New York City Police Department for a long time, but the actions today of assaulting one of our police officers, deputy chief, by biting him viciously in the arm, I can’t explain it right now,” Chell said.
He clarified that being an elected official does not mean Zhuang’s case will be handled differently.
Zhuang is the second City Council member arrested in under a year. Inna Vernikov, a Republican from Brooklyn, faced charges of having a gun at a protest in November, but they were dropped.
The incident prompted a strong response from the head of the Police Benevolent Association. The union endorsed Zhuang when she ran for her City Council seat.
“We are extremely shocked by the reported violence against NYPD members at today’s protest in Brooklyn, especially because Councilmember Susan Zhuang has been a steadfast supporter of police officers during her time in the [City] Council. There is never any excuse or justification for assaulting a police officer. There should be no double standard in this case. After a full and fair investigation, Councilmember Zhuang and anyone else involved must face full accountability for their conduct,” PBA president Patrick Hendry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Queens Councilman Robert Holden told NY1 he condemns violence against the police, but understands Zhuang’s protest against the proposed shelter.
“If that happened, it’s unacceptable and I condemn that, certainly. However, I understand the passion of trying to protect your neighborhood,” Holden said.
“When I spoke to Susan months ago, she had a massive demonstration against the homeless shelter. I told her, I said, ‘I have a 200-men shelter in my district and it’s been nothing but trouble,’” he added.
State Sen. Iwen Chu, who also represents the area, says City Hall has refused to engage in an honest dialogue about the project.
“It’s not fair to keep the community in the dark when there’s a plan actually going on. However, we didn’t get any update and from today’s incident you will be able to see — we should have done this a long time ago, so we don’t have to end up this way,” Chu told NY1.
Reacting to the incident later Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said he still needs to talk to Chell.
“Susan has always been a real partner with us, particularly around public safety. This is an unfortunate incident. I’m going to reach out to her, and I’m going to reach out to [the] chief of patrol just to try to figure out what happened here,” Adams said.
If the charge of second-degree assault sticks and Zhuang is convicted, the councilwoman faces up to seven years behind bars.
The NYPD said a 57-year-old man was also arrested at the protest on a charge of assaulting a police officer.