A violent clash between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, police and protestors outside of a Brooklyn hospital over the weekend caused elected officials and community members to raise questions about the NYPD’s collaboration with federal agents.
Dozens of politicians and local residents demanded answers from the NYPD at a Monday morning rally after eight people were arrested in the conflict outside of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick in the early morning hours on Sunday.
A rapid response of volunteer ICE watchers late Saturday night grew quickly into a hundreds-strong protest after Brooklynite Chidozie Wilson Okeke, an immigrant from Nigeria, allegedly asked for medical attention after apparently being tased by ICE agents earlier that evening in Bushwick, according to a video obtained by THE CITY.
The response turned into the largest clash between protestors and law enforcement, including ICE and NYPD, in New York since contentious raids targeting street vendors on Canal Street in the fall.
On Monday, local leaders and community members called on NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to explain whether her agency’s response to the protestors — and alleged aid to ICE agents — violated New York City’s sanctuary laws barring law enforcement from colluding with immigration officials.
While the NYPD says they had no prior coordination with ICE and Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended the agency’s response, local leaders say the department’s response could keep residents from visiting hospitals or police precincts.
“I just want [the NYPD] to reset,” Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso told Documented after the rally Monday morning. “Because the NYPD was doing their job until the end, when they started assisting ICE.”
The incident began Saturday evening , when Wilson Okeke was brought to the hospital. Video published by THE CITY appears to show agents using a taser on the man as they tried to pull him, screaming, from his car on Monday evening. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the video.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the man as Okeke, who they say overstayed a tourist visa from Nigeria and has previous arrests for assault and drug possession. Neither the NYPD nor DHS confirmed whether the man had been charged or convicted for such crimes. And DHS did not comment on the extent of Okeke’s injuries or how they occurred but said he didn’t comply with officers’ commands to leave his vehicle.
DHS said Okeke attempted to hit officers with the vehicle and became physically combative with agents, but no video has yet surfaced of the events that led up to the arrest.
Police said that they responded to numerous 911 calls about the conflict after 10:00 p.m. Video footage of the incident showed both peaceful protesters chanting and others throwing trash, chairs and garbage cans into the street in front of an ambulance bay. During another tense moment in video reviewed by Documented, one captain of the NYPD is heard disparaging both Mayor Mamdani and the Democratic party, and witnesses said ICE had deployed pepper spray at protesters.
Okeke was released from the hospital at around 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to NYPD officials, prompting protestors to block the ambulance bay and, in one case, a protester punched and broke the window of an ICE vehicle, according to the NYPD.
One woman who was arrested that night, who asked that her name be withheld, said that responders early on tried to allow for emergency vehicles to pass and only disrupt ICE’s ability to leave with Okeke.
“People moved, cleared the street anytime an actual ambulance came,” said the woman. “People were not there to just be disruptive, or just hate on NYPD, or ICE. … People were there to try to make sure that this person who was taken was okay.”
As she and protesters stood near an ICE officer’s vehicle, multiple NYPD officers descended on people near the car and first, removed them from the street, she said.
“I remember them, like grabbing my shoulders and just like shoving me to the side,” she told Documented.
A while later, she was again grabbed by at least one NYPD officer, she said. “At that point they threw me to the ground again. I think I had like, four or five of them on top of me,” she said, adding that she lost her glasses in the scuffle.
She was taken into custody around 10:30 p.m she said, and charged with a misdemeanor.
Videos showed NYPD officers moving protesters out of the way of ICE agents. Okeke is shown in multiple videos being carried and dragged in handcuffs and shackles towards the ICE agents’ cars as protesters raged from behind a line of NYPD officers. One NYPD officer is shown putting his hand on the door of the ICE agents’ vehicle as they put Okeke inside. Another NYPD officer is seen on video apparently throwing a man to the pavement.
For Reynoso, this is when the NYPD’s involvement crossed a line.
“Before that, they were just separating the crowd from doing harm to the car or going inside the hospital,” said Reynoso, adding, “Then they started helping escort the person into the car, shutting the door, asking them to go. We don’t want them to do that.”
Those arrested faced charges including resisting arrest, obstructing government administration, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, according to the department. One person was released after being issued a summons.
For its part, the NYPD said officers were responding to multiple 911 calls for a disorderly group.
“Officers issued repeated verbal warnings for the individuals to disperse and return to the sidewalks,” said a statement sent to Documented by the NYPD. Department officials did not respond to requests for comments on the captain’s comment about the mayor.
NYPD said they had no “prior awareness or coordination” with ICE.
Mamdani defended the agency’s response at a press conference Monday.
“When it comes to our police force, I’ve been very clear that there cannot be any work in coordination with ICE, in planning with ICE — and there was none of that when it comes to Wyckoff,” Mamdani said. “There also cannot be any assistance in civil immigration enforcement, and there was none of that in what our police force was doing.”
如何在纽约市申请街头摊贩许可证和牌照
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a longtime proponent of immigration reform who represents Bushwick, told Documented that neighbors on Monday came to the rally to send the right message.
“The fact that we are here today, and that the community got out and came to Wyckoff sent a strong message of the kind of city that we live in here,” said Velazquez. “We care about our neighbors, and this is a sanctuary city, and we need to behave that way.”
