Jillian Jorgensen, senior politics editor at the New York Observer, tweets that she was at a press conference hosted by Mayor Bill de Blasio when she observed “what amounted to a minor disturbance” — police escorting a homeless man away from the area. The subject of the press conference? Helping the homeless.
A homeless man was just escorted way by police from a @BilldeBlasio presser on helping the homeless pic.twitter.com/WU8BXomwgI
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
.@BilldeBlasio says he doesn't know anything about the homeless man escorted away from presser on homelessness right before he arrived
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
But @BilldeBlasio, Steve Banks and an NYPD chief did offer explanation of what usually happens when police approach homeless
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
But if I had to guess, I'd bet the police approach is different when the homeless person is sitting at a mayoral presser.
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
Jorgensen caught up with the man, Jerry Foust, who had taken one of the folding chairs that had been set up for reporters:
“I wanted to see the mayor talk about homelessness, because I’m homeless,” Mr. Foust said in an interview, as he smoked a cigarette on the edge of the park. “And I wanted to fuckin’ help homeless people. If I had the money, honey, no one would be homeless in this country.”
Foust wasn’t arrested but was led away from the event before it began, reportedly because he was carrying an open container.
The homeless man was escorted away because he had an open container, according to city. I caught up with him after, he said he'd "had a nip"
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
“I took a nip…the mayor’s coming. Let me see this entertainment…same as it ever was. Bill de blah blah blah.” https://t.co/fjNb3mVJJb
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) April 5, 2016
Recommended
The New York Times in January reported that the city council was considering a set of bills that “would reduce … the style of policing known as broken windows that has for two decades guided the Police Department to see minor disorder as a precursor to major crime.” Among the examples of minor disorders given were marijuana possession, littering, excessive noise, public urination, and public consumption of alcohol.
“The presence of Mr. Foust, who had been drinking, as well as several other homeless men in the park, offers a hint at how difficult it can be to reach people who often say they simply do not want to stay in shelters, or might be struggling with substance abuse or mental health issues,” writes Jorgensen, adding that “Mr. Foust said he simply didn’t like the neighborhood of the last shelter he was in.”
It looks like police didn’t care to have a homeless man with an open container in the neighborhood of the mayor, either.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member