BEDFORD-STUYVESANT – COUNCILMEMBER CHI Ossé has filed an excessive force complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the independent agency which oversees the New York Police Department, over his arrest at a highly charged protest last month, reports Politico.
The arrest occurred on April 22, when Ossé and several other local leaders and activists were protesting the potential eviction of a Bedford-Stuyvesant woman who has alleged her brownstone home is being stolen via deed theft, a form of white-collar fraud. Video taken at the protest appears to show Ossé and a police officer in a close-quarters confrontation before Ossé is grabbed and pushed abruptly to the ground. He was then arrested and brought to a nearby station.
Osse is alleging he suffered a concussion from the arrest, and says he is demanding accountability from the NYPD. The officer named in the complaint has had two previous excessive force accusations, both ruled unsubstantiated by the CCRB. The NYPD stated that officers only arrested Ossé and others after they refused to stop blocking access to the property.
Elected officials, including both police reform advocate Mayor Zohran Mamdani and moderate City Council Speaker Julie Menin, called the video of the arrest concerning at the time. Mamdani’s office said the mayor would not comment further, due to the ongoing CCRB investigation.
Although the details of the alleged deed theft are murky – Ossé has described the situation as clear fraud, while New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office has said it has determined the case is not deed theft but an inheritance dispute – the councilmember in a statement at the time emphasized that his goal was to call for a moratorium on all potential deed theft evictions, to allow the cases to move through the court system.
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