JUSTICE FOR THE HOMELESS: CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE FIRING OF NYPD OFFICER LONG & SAHA FOR BRUTALIZING HOMELESS NYER

JUSTICE FOR THE HOMELESS: CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE FIRING OF NYPD OFFICER LONG & SAHA FOR BRUTALIZING HOMELESS NYER

Read our Demands & Sign Petition Below:

  • We want the remaining misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest be dropped immediately against  Joseph T.
  • We want the immediate firing of assaulting NYPD Officers Adonis Long and Shimul Saha. 
  •  We demand a TRUE plan to end mass homelessness in NYC.

Background: This month, The City that broke this month (HERE) detailing yet again another horrific story of police abuse and elected power against a homeless member of the community. On May 25th, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Joseph T. left the intake shelter after waiting hours without being adequately and safely placed. Joseph T. then entered a nearly empty 6 train car on a nearly empty train in search of a safe place to shelter. It was during this train ride he encountered Ofr. Adonis Long who forcely demanded that he remove his bags from the seat. As a result of this encounter Joseph T. was brutalized, suffering repeated punches to the head and face, dragged, placed in a chokehold and pepper-sprayed within 5 inches of his face. Joseph was then charged for felony assault against the officer (since dropped) and misdemeanor for resisting arrest (still remains). 

The nation's uprisings continue to decry the abuse of the state-sanctioned brutality against Black and Brown bodies. This behavior is of major concern as 80% of single adults in NYC experiencing homelessness, identify as Black and Brown. NYPD is ill-equipped to address matters of homelessness, among others in this city. As we brace ourselves for a possible second-wave of COVID-19, when tens of thousands have nowhere to call home, we will have to face a new wave of possible homelessness for 1.5 million NYers. And while the recent budget “changes” removes NYPD from homeless outreach and subway diversion, poverty policing remains a serious threat. In 2019, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (leaders of the Housing not Handcuffs campaign) found that national criminalization of homelessness increased over the last 13 years. Anti-homeless rhetoric in NYC is becoming increasingly aggressive (example 1, example 2, example 3). We cannot allow for the brutality of the city's most vulnerable to go unchecked, people experiencing homelessness deserve dignity, respect and HOUSING.