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 New York City Department of Parks and Recreation told The Post in a 
statement, “Our Parks Enforcement Patrol’s (PEP) first course of action is 
to educate in order to bring violators into compliance.”

“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.”

https://nypost.com/2024/06/03/us-news/chaotic-video-shows-nyc-parks-
employee-cuff-young-girl-selling-fruit-with-her-family/