DeBlasio and Levin appear in court over LICH protest arrest
Leading mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio had to take time off the campaign trail to go to court Tuesday, appearing before a judge over his arrest at a hospital protest.
De Blasio, City Councilman Stephen Levin and about a dozen nurses and others all had their disorderly conduct cases put on track to be dismissed if they avoid rearrest for six months. It’s a common way for Manhattan courts to resolve such cases.
De Blasio, a Democrat who’s currently the city’s elected public advocate, and the others were arrested July 10 after they ignored a police officer’s order to stop blocking the entrance to a midtown Manhattan office of the State University of New York, according to a court complaint. The group was protesting the university system’s plan to close Long Island College Hospital and sell its Brooklyn buildings.