NYPD Detains 2 Women Selling Churros In Subway Stations, Sparking Backlash

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    NEW YORK (AP) – New York City police detained two women for selling churros without a license at subway stations, sparking backlash from social media users and at least one city official.

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    Officers can be seen in cell phone footage captured Friday surrounding a woman who was selling the fried-dough pastries from a cart in a Brooklyn subway station.

    The bystander captured the four officers talking to the Spanish-speaking woman, who appeared to be crying. Officers told her she could either turn over her cart and receive a fine or have her cart confiscated and face arrest.

    The video showed officers handcuff the woman and drag her cart full of food up the stairs at the Broadway Junction station.

    The New York Police Department said the woman had received 10 summonses over the past six months for “unlicensed vending.” She was released shortly after and received a ticket. Her cart was confiscated as “arrest evidence.”

    The video became widely shared and sparked a protest in support of the vendor at the subway stop Monday afternoon.

    Officers then arrested a second woman selling churros Monday morning at the Myrtle-Wycoff station in Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reported .

    Police said they learned she had two warrants for failing to appear in court for selling without a license.

    Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, said on Twitter that the detainment “doesn’t make anyone safer” and “raises serious questions” about the increase in police presence in the city’s subways.

    Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently deployed 500 officers to frequent and patrol the city’s subways to tackle the rise in crime and fare evasion.

    The increase in officers has been criticized and linked to tensions between officers and civilians. Last month, a brawl between police and a group of teenagers and the chaotic arrest of a 19-year-old black man in a subway car led to hundreds of protesters taking to the streets of Downtown Brooklyn.


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    10 Comments
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    Shimmy
    Shimmy
    4 years ago

    If the police leave the subways, so do I.

    Elephant
    Elephant
    4 years ago

    Rent a retail store. Pay rent and fees like all retail establishments do.

    Frish
    Frish
    4 years ago

    These are very dangerous times. The thugs are gaining ground and establishing a solid platform. Police are undermined in every way by every one even by thier own bosses who need to stick up for them this Mayor is a dangerous liberal , NYC is turning back to the infamous Dinkins days. So sad so sad

    lazy-boy
    lazy-boy
    4 years ago

    the laws are there to protect people. who knows what is put in the food?
    these women are probably honest, with decent food, but if they allow them to sell, others, not so honest will be selling food with less than honorable ingredients….

    Joseph
    Joseph
    4 years ago

    More likely an illegal immigrant that will be bank in the streets and pardon because of being illegal. If she is aUS citizen then more likely the city will throw the book at her and bakrupt her with fines and attorney fees to prevent her from routing in jail. don’t walk away from liberals, RUN…

    Nachum
    Nachum
    4 years ago

    Scott Stringer has no brains; what if the unlicensed vendor was selling tainted food, which could have poisoned people? Years ago, in the 1960’s, and early 1970,s when the then NY Transit Police used to routinely patrol the subways, (from 8PM to 4AM, there was one cop on every train, and one on every subway station), the cops were held in very high esteem, and crime was reduced by 66%. In fact, during the 1968 Presidential election, candidate Richard M. Nixon mentioned that statistic in his political ads. Today, anarchy has returned to the slobways, I mean the subways. I stopped routinely riding the subways in 1972, and I don’t miss them. I had my share of tsouris on them, even back then. The last time that I was a passenger on the subways, was as a tourist in 1999.

    Nachum
    Nachum
    4 years ago

    You are the fool, and have a foul mouth. Someone can be just as dead, or become just as ill from tainted churros, as they can from illegal drugs! Incidentally, what kind of a semi-obscene photo have you posted?

    The_Truth
    The_Truth
    4 years ago

    What happens in other places doesn’t undermine what happens on the subway. If you let anyone do anything, wherever, whenever they want, it turns to a free for all with no law & order. Without all the issues of garbage, rats & roaches in the subways; She was doing something illegal, which she already had 10 summons, for which she is now arrested – which is a good thing. (Yes, there are other worse things that the Police should also clean up, and yes there are worse places in NY). Next they should stop all the turnstile jumpers and those who get on buses without paying. As far as I can see, this has nothing to do with safety, just police keeping law & order. If you allow he to sell anything without a licence, next there will be a whole array of vendors & carts all over the platform & subways, tuning it into a market place. (Actually, it might be a good idea to reintroduce a restaurant car to the subway!)