Chaotic video shows NYC Parks employee cuff girl, 14, selling fruit with family as bystanders try to pull her away
Shocking video has emerged of an NYC Parks employee holding a teenage girl in handcuffs after she allegedly was selling fruit from an unlicensed cart in Lower Manhattan with her family.
The video, taken Sunday afternoon in Battery Park and shared on X, shows a man wearing an NYC Parks uniform grabbing the 14-year-old girl, who has one of her hands handcuffed as angry bystanders shout in protest and try to pull her away.
Bystanders can be heard shouting “Let her go!” and “Get a female [worker]” at the parks employee, some even grabbing at him to try to pull away the young girl, who had been selling fruit from a cart with her family.
Chaotic video footage shows an NYPD officer grabbing the girl’s arm and attempting to pull her back before two bystanders intervene, dragging her away from the officer and parks employee.
As onlookers try to break the girl free, she and the parks employee tumble to the ground while bystanders continue to plead for her to be let go.
Marc Rebillet, who took the video, told Storyful that parks employees attempted to detain the girl and her family for selling fruit from a cart.
“NYPD first tried to detain the girl, then released her — then Parks got ahold of her and tried to cuff her. That’s when people started crowding around and trying to get the Parks officer off of her,” Rebillet said.
“He was thrown to the ground, brought the girl down with him, and in the ensuing struggle she managed to break free and escape. They cuffed the mother and put her in a police car.”
In a follow-up post, Rebillet noted he saw parks officers trying to put the unlicensed fruit cart in the dumpster.
“Okay, fine, talk to the parents. DONT CUFF THE KID. Embarrassing and dangerous behavior. Shame on Parks, shame on NYPD,” he wrote.
The parks officer has been assigned to administrative duties while officials investigate the incident, a Department of Parks and Recreation spokesperson told The Post.
“Our Parks Enforcement Patrol’s (PEP) first course of action is to educate in order to bring violators into compliance,” reads a statement from the department.
“When individuals have repeatedly flouted the law, we take additional enforcement actions, and there are instances when it is necessary to place violators and individuals obstructing the law under arrest.”
The department is investigating the incident, according to Storyful.
The NYPD told The Post it was assisting the parks department employees who were getting assaulted by bystanders.
The 32-year-old mother was given a desk appearance ticket, while parks officials wrote up a juvenile report detailing the incident with the 14-year-old.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city would investigate the incident, adding “no one wants to see a [child] handled in a way that can seem offensive and abusive.”
But he noted that the “parent there is a habitual abuser” in terms of illegal vending.
“The larger problem here that no one wants to talk about, it is not dignified to have people unable to provide for themselves.”
