Confrontation between teen and NYC parks officer, captured on video, leads to investigation

New York officials are conducting an investigation after a viral video captured chaos near Battery Park in Manhattan as officers tried to arrest a girl allegedly selling fruit with her family.

In the video, an officer with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation appears to restrain the girl and try to handcuff her as an NYPD officer appears to restrain another woman. Some bystanders shout at the officers as some attempt to free the girl. Shouts of "let her go," and "don't touch her," can be heard.

Amid the scuffle, some bystanders pull the girl away after she and the officer fall to the ground. The end of the video shows the parks department officer kneeling and speaking with another officer after the girl appears to have escaped.

The video was posted to X on Sunday afternoon by Marc Rebillet, an electronic music artist who rose to fame on social media during the pandemic. Rebillet wrote alongside the video that the officers were "busy" on a Sunday afternoon "trying to put a twelve year old child in cuffs who’s selling fruit with her family."

Rebillet wrote that he encountered parks department officials trying to put a fruit cart in a trash bin and that the family was "apparently" selling fruit without a license. "okay, fine, talk to the parents. DONT CUFF THE KID," he wrote.

"Embarrassing and dangerous behavior. Shame on Parks, shame on NYPD," the post read. The video racked up 46,000 likes and 10,600 reposts by Monday afternoon.

In a statement to USA TODAY, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation said the incident is under internal investigation "to ensure that all agency protocols were followed."

"During a joint operation with NYPD, PEP (Parks Enforcement Patrol) Officers confiscated perishable items from unlicensed vendors in the park. While officers were attempting to destroy the items which were unsafe for consumption, two individuals intervened," said Kelsey Jean-Baptiste, a department spokesperson.

During the incident, a 32-year-old female received a desk appearance ticket while a 14-year-old received a juvenile report, Jean-Baptiste said.

Rebillet did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

The NYPD summoned street vendors to criminal court 1,244 times in 2023, almost six times more than in 2019, according to an investigation by The City.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at cmayesosterman@usatoday.com. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.