A 73-Year-Old woman was mistakenly asked to asked to leave a city park - not a playground - by the NYPD. The sign for Ruppert Park can clearly be seen in the CBS video footage.
Manhattan
A woman sitting in a New York City park was struck by a ball, but she was the one who ended up getting tossed out.
CBS 2’s John Slattery reports on an unusual park problem on the Upper East Side.
At 73, Harri Molese doesn’t look like a threat to society, but as she walked into Ruppert Park she became a law-breaker.
“Yes, I am. I am breaking the law. I was told on Saturday by a police officer I was not allowed to be in here,” Molese said.
That’s according to a Parks Department sign posted at the park entrance: “Adults prohibited except in the company of children.”
Molese, who lives on Second Avenue right next to the park, has, for years, come to the park to sit and read, usually at a checkers table in a large circle. As she sat there recently, teenage boys playing Wiffle ball were using her table as third base.
“I was just sitting down and they hit me with a Wiffle ball,” Molese said.
She said she asked the boys to come out onto 91st Street, which is closed to traffic, to play ball, but they declined.
On Saturday, she came back and said the same boys would hit her table as they rounded the bases. She questioned one of their fathers.
“He said to me you’re not allowed to be in here. You don’t have a child,” Molese said.
It’s a park that has a playground in one quadrant, but the rest is typical park, with paths and benches. The rule is to protect children from potential pedophiles.
“It’s not even crazy. It’s ridiculous. Where is common sense in this world today?” Molese said.
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CBS News - August 15, 2011 - By John Slattery
just let the let the kids play and no nypd..... telling them to go to the street? that says "curmudgeon".. father who called the cops is worse though....
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