Battery Park City Removing All Law Enforcement Officers

An AlliedBarton “safety ambassador” on the southern end of Battery Park City. On Wednesday the Battery Park City Authority board secretly voted to remove all law enforcement officers from the premises and replace them with civilian AlliedBarton employees.
Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) secretly voted this week to remove all the Park Enforcement Patrol officers, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The board voted to allow its contract with the Parks Department to expire on Sunday night.  The secret vote occurred in an Executive Session after the authority’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday.  The deal replaced the current $ 2.5 million dollar PEP contract.

For months BPCA officials have told the public that a percentage of PEP officers would remain along side AlliedBarton “safety ambassadors.”

The Battery Park City Authority’s controversial decision to replace Park Enforcement officers with civilians with no law enforcement powers has sparked outrage from residents of the sprawling complex.

The BPCA board had approved a contract for up to $ 2.1 million with AlliedBarton, another $ 400,000 would be allocated for PEP officers officials said.

The Parks Department was kept in the dark about the move until yesterday afternoon according to several city sources. The agency had reached out to BPCA this week several times but got no response.

On Friday afternoon Parks Department’s general council Alessandro Olivieri was finally able to get in touch with the BPCA.

The last tour for the PEP officers will be on Sunday night.  All forty PEP personnel including thirty officers and supervisors, and ten CSA’s will be reassigned to other commands.

Wednesday’s secret vote comes after a group of teens were viciously attacked and robbed in a dark alley in Battery Park City in December.

The attack left one of the victims with a concussion, a skull fracture, bleeding in his brain in three places and a swollen shut eye.

The incident sparked outrage by the victims who claimed the newly hired AlliedBarton safety ambassadors did not intervene to help the teens and delayed calling the police.

“AlliedBarton security personnel on duty did nothing to help the children,” the mother of victim said afterwards.

The actions of AlliedBarton employees further renewed the fears of residents and elected officials who have complained bitterly since finding out about the Authority’s move to replace PEP offices with civilians in October.

In December city, state,and federal elected officials send a letter to Dennis Mehiel criticizing the AlliedBarton move:

Battery Park City Authority board chairman and CEO Dennis Mehiel was blasted at a community meeting last month over the proposed hiring of AlliedBarton.  At the meeting he stated that they were still in negotiations between the City and BPCA.

Mr. Mehiel abruptly excused himself from the meeting leaving of long line of angry residents waiting to speak.

One recent plan called for having PEP officers work two tours comprising of 24 officers in total according to a city source.

The secret ousting of the PEP officers comes amid growing outrage over several recent decisions by the Board without community consultation and transparency.

Calls for the city to take over the Battery Park City in the wake of these decisions have also been renewed.

This week State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick announced the introduction of a bill that would require a majority of BPCA members to be local residents. Only one of the current BPCA’ seven-member board lives in Battery Park City.

The Authority board is appointed by the governor, and confirmed by the State Senate.

“They televise the board meetings then go into executive session. They do all the dirty stuff behind closed doors, “ said a Battery Park City resident.

Several requests seeking comment from the Battery Park City Authority were not returned.

Read More:

Two Arrested In Brutal Battery Park City Attack 
A Walk In The Park - January 13, 2015 -  By Geoffrey Croft

Teens Viciously Attacked In Battery Park City While AlliedBarton Security Ambassador Watched
A Walk In The Park - January 7
2016

Police Arrest Man For Stalking Girl, 12, In Washington Sq. Park

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

A visit to Washington Square Park turned into a nightmare for a twelve-year-old girl when a stalker followed her home, NYC Park Advocates has learned. 

The girl was in the park with her best friend and her friend’s mother near the dog run around 12:30pm. on Monday. 

After the girl’s friend and mom left a strange man approached her and asked, “will you ride me?”  

The man muttered other phrases the child didn’t understand according to police.

The girl quickly walked away but the assailant followed her home.  When she entered her building on 9th Street the man continued and got into the elevator with her where he asked, “I was recently let out of jail, can I hide in your apartment?”

When the elevator arrived at her floor the terrified girl ran out and into her apartment. Her mother called the police. 

The stalker disappeared. 

Police responded.  They saw a man a few blocks away on 10th Street & Broadway that matched his description.

Police arrested Carl Catapano, 39, a resident of 26 E. 11th Street.     

Catapano was charged with Stalking, Harassment and Endangering The Welfare of a Child.
 He is being held on a $15,000 bond or $5,000 cash bail.

On January 15th  Catapano was given a desk appearance ticket for panhandling in a subway station. On December 4, 2015 he was arrested for marijuana possession.  On February 25, 2006 he was arrested for assault and criminal mischief.

Hearing For Mayor’s Controversial Carriage Industry Relocation Plan In Central Park Scheduled For Friday

The pedicab industry protested this afternoon outside the gates of City Hall.  The Mayor's plan would prohibit the group from working south of 85th Street. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge

By Geoffrey Croft

The Mayor’s controversial plan to move and pay for the relocation of the horse carriage industry to a Parks Department owned building in Central Park is scheduled for this Friday at 10:00am.

“The bill would reduce the number of licenses for horses used in the operation of horse-drawn carriages and the number of hours a horse-drawn carriage may operate during a 24-hour period, establish a stable in Central Park, limit the operation of horse-drawn carriages to Central Park, and prohibit the operation of pedicabs below the 85th Street Transverse in Central Park,” according to the language of the bill.

The Parks Department would be responsible for establishing a stable for carriage horses within Central Park by October 1, 2018. The penality for not acheiving that goal on time? 

The Parks Commissioner would be responslble for submitting "a report to the mayor and the council stating the reasons why and providing an updated timeline for the establishment of such stable," the bill reads.  

Unlike other commercial businesses which operate on public park land this one is expected to bypass the competitive bidding process normally required to secure public park land for private commercial uses including consessions. 

The city will attempt to claim it does not need to get State Alienation approval because it is already an existing “park use" according to a city source.

The De blasio administration did not consult with the Parks Commissioner or the Central Park Conservancy, the non-profit group that manages the park, before devising the plan.  

Outstanding questions include whether or not the carriage industry would be required to pay the city rent.  

The hastily drawn up plan has come under attack on all sides of the issue including animal rights activists,  the horse carriage drivers and stable owners, and park advocates.

Proposed new home for the carriage horse industry in Central Park. The Park’s Department’s 86th Street Shops building.

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito took a swipe at critics, including Central Park Conservancy founder Betsy Barlow Rogers who questioned relocating the stables to a city-owned Parks Department building and giving it to a private business.  

“It is like building a palace for a concessionaire, ” Ms. Rogers told the New York Times. 

The plan, she said, “absolutely must be opposed.”

"At the end of the day, the city owns the park. The city owns this facility,”  Melissa Mark-Viverito shot back.

“And the city is making a decision to invest in this facility. And there are those who may think that they own the park. Right? The Central Park Conservancy, understood, has a contract with the city of New York. But the park and Central Park is city property and the mayor does make decisions as to what the priorities (are) for this city. We had conversations and we've arrived at a point of agreement," the Speaker said. 

“The well-being of horses is lost in this compromise bill—it only serves the carriage horse industry at the city’s expense,” says Edita Birnkrant, Campaign Director of Friends of Animals.    

The pedicab industry held well attended rally at City Hall this afternoon.   

The horse carriage drivers and stable owners held a rally this morning to say they would not consider the Mayor’s plan to move their business inside Central Park until the stables they are being promised in the park are complete.

Councilman Mark Levine, chairman of the Parks Committee, said the deal was probably the best compromise that could have been reached because the city was spending too much time on it. 

“This matter has occupied a disproportionate amount of the time and energy of the council for the past two years,” Mr. Levine told the Wall Street Journal. 

“Everyone is going be relieved that we can focus our attention on other issues that are facing the council,” he said.

Mr. Levine walked quickly past pedicab workers protesting outside the gates of City Hall this afternoon. 

This is the second time in a month that the City Council is supporting a plan to give away public parkland to a private business at the tax-payers expense.

Last month they voted to give away 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park to one of the country’s most politically connected developers to build a mega mall.  

Read More:

NYC pedicab drivers tell city ‘don’t take our jobs’ 

Metro NY - January 19, 2016 - Angy Altamirano 

De Blasio’s carriage horse deal draws more fire

Newsday - January 19, 2016 -  By Emily Ngo  

De Blasio’s New Carriage Horse Industry Home In Central Park

A Walk In The Park - January 14, 2016 - By Geoffrey Croft

Council misled city on Willets West land grab

Queens Chronicle - January 14, 2016 - By  Geoffrey Croft

Council Misled City On Willets West Land Grab

Proposed Nightmare - Willets Point West.  Last month City Council voted on a resolution that supported a $1 billion Bloomberg-era giveaway of 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park to one of the country’s most politically connected developers. 

By Geoffrey Croft

The City Council recently voted on a resolution that supported a $1 billion Bloomberg-era giveaway of 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park to one of the country’s most politically connected developers. Only that’s not what the resolution explicitly stated or even implied.

The resolution claimed it was authorizing the Council to file an amicus brief, “to support the prior approval of the Willets Point development plan by the City Council,” as well as to “defend” it.

However, that is not the issue before the Court of Appeals that the Council was purportedly supporting. What is in front of the court is Willets Point West, which the resolution conveniently omitted.

The Queens Development Group, a joint venture between the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, is attempting to build a 1.4 million-square-foot mall on mapped parkland west of Citi Field stadium. The proposed Willets West mall project would allow the seizing of the parkland to be used exclusively for non-park purposes without first getting state alienation approval as is required under law. The construction would be unprecedented and represent the largest parkland giveaway in recent history. The appellate court also said it was illegal.

In February 2014, a coalition of residents, environmental groups including NYC Park Advocates, businesses, homeowners and state Sen. Tony Avella filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court demanding the city halt its illegal handing over of mapped parkland to build a mega-mall.

In July 2015 the Appellate Division First Department unanimously rejected the building of the mall because it failed to first obtain the necessary approval. The court ruled that the project violated the Public Trust Doctrine and prevented any construction from going forward.

The court ruled that the original 1961 legislation which authorized the building of Shea Stadium did not allow the developers to build the mall nor the city to give away the land for non-park purposes.

“No reasonable reading of Administrative Code section 18-118 allows for the conclusion that the legislature in 1961 contemplated, much less gave permission for, a shopping mall, unrelated to the anticipated stadium, to be constructed in the Park,” the Appellate Division First Department wrote in its opinion.

The de Blasio administration declined to join the defendants in their appeal, not out of a responsible public policy to preserve parkland but instead in the hopes of renegotiating better affordable housing terms than the deal struck under the Bloomberg administration. In declining to join the case, the city’s Law Department recognized that the defendants did not have legal standing to develop the parkland.

But none of this is deterring the City Council.

“The Willets Point development plan was approved by the City Council in 2013 by a vote of 42-3. The Council and I stand by our process and authority, and we are prepared to defend that decision in the on-going litigation,” Councilmember Julissa Ferreras-Copeland said in a statement justifying her support.

It is important to understand that the proposed mall was not part of the original Willets Point development that the City Council approved in 2008, or subsequently, as Ferreras-Copeland is erroneously claiming. The parkland was thrown in years later to sweeten the deal for the developers and has never received any legislative approval. Zero. In October 2013 the Council voted to approve a special permit which authorized the temporary use of land in Willets Point for parking. That’s it.

Julissa’s ill-conceived Flushing Meadows Park Alliance, which is predicated on businesses exploiting the park, also stands to gain $5 million from Related if the deal goes through.

The defendants have done their best in court papers and in statements to the media to say these two projects are connected when they are not, and now they have convinced a so-called “progressive” City Council to do their bidding which includes getting them to mislead their own colleagues. This is shameful.

This issue is about greed pure and simple. The defendants are attempting a billion-dollar land grab at the taxpayers’ expense.

This action is a continuation of a Bloomberg policy, a legacy the current mayor went to great lengths to try to differentiate himself from while running for office. What the public got, however, at least in terms of parkland policy, is more of the same.

The Chronicle’s Dec. 17 editorial calling the Council’s resolution “offensive” and characterizing it as a backroom deal was right on point. 

Their shameful support of this irresponsible park land giveaway — voting 46-2 in favor with one abstention — defies logic. There is nothing “progressive” about that.

It is the government’s job to protect public parks and certainly not allow them to be given away to wealthy developers.

Geoffrey Croft is President of NYC Park Advocates, a watchdog group dedicated to protecting and improving public parks.

Read More:

Council misled city on Willets West land grab

Queens Chronicle Opinion - January 14, 2016 - By  Geoffrey Croft

De Blasio Declines To Join Willets Point West Appeal - 

Not Due To Preserving Parkland Or Legal Grounds However

A Walk In The Park - August 20, 2015  - By Geoffrey Croft

De Blasio's New Carriage Horse Industry Home In Central Park

Tight Fit. Proposed New Carriage Horse Industry Home. Under the Mayor’s plan the city would give the Park’s Department’s 86th Street Shops building - located along the heavilty trafficked 86th Street Transverse Road - to the carriage horse industry.   The building is used by Park’s Department trade workers.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on Images to enlarge.

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Mayor De Blasio is proposing handing over a Parks Department building in Central Park used by city workers to the commercial horse stable industry, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The plan would permanently provide a home for seventy-five horses in Central Park along the 86th Street Transverse near the police Pct.  

The tax payers are expected to pay for the new multi-million dollar facility under the Mayor’s plan. 

City engineers have visited the more than century-old former stable building several times according to city sources.   

Unlike other commercial businesses which operate on public park land this one is expected to bypass the competitive bidding process normally required to secure public park land for private commercial uses. 

Outstanding questions include whether or not the carriage industry would be required to pay the city rent.  

The move would displace approximately forty park workers mostly in the trades - including electricians, carpenters, plumbers, blacksmiths, and steamfitters. 

The horses would to go and from work into the heavily trafficked 86th Street Transverse Road. The not-so-ideal location would necessitate the installation of a railroad style crossing gate and flashing warning lights system to protect the horses from traffic according to several sources. 

The stables would be located nearly a mile and a half away from the horse stands on 59th Street. 

The De Blasio administration is scrambling to finalize a bill which would authorize the land giveaway to the private business which could come as early as Friday according to published reports.

Horse carriages are rarely seen working north of 72nd Street in the park and several park officials were unsure whether or not there is a ban that prohibits the industry from working in the northern areas of the park and if they would be allowed to moving forward under the new bill.

A worker repairs a piece of equipment in the Park’s Department’s 86th Street Shops building.

The location is problematic according to a Parks Department equestrian expert familiar with the area who cited several issues including traffic and the size of the building as issues. 

"It’s going to be dangerous for the horses to be pulling out on the transverse unless you really engineer something that is safe and completely stops traffic," the worker said.  

Once the carriages cross the transverse they are expected to use the park’s existing bridal paths according to city sources.  

“It’s not ideal for those carriages to be on the bridal path it’s too bumpy. The bridle path is for saddle horses," the equestrian source stated.   

Several park employees familiar with the city's plan also questioned whether the site could accommodate the proposed use. 

"If you are going to have a facility that is healthy for the horses you need a lot of space - box stalls which allow horses to turn around as well as lay down, you need an area for the horses to turn out,  grooming areas, and a place to store the carriages, “ the park worker said.

“You also need food storage areas, refrigerators for medicines, it's a lot of stuff. Also large trucks are going to delivering hay. Traffic is going to be a nightmare.  Remember the carriage rider will be controlling the traffic signals every time they leave or come back in. They will be controlling that,” the worker continued. 

The Park’s Department’s 86th Street Shops building.

Parks Department trade employees who work in the building are an integral part of the city’s maintenance workforce. 

“It’ll be a disaster,” said a parks trade worker speaking on the condition they not be identified for fear of reprisal.

“Efficiency will out the window. Where are they going to put us? We’ll be traveling all over the place. This building is centrally located. The cost to the city for us to traveling from all over will be enormous.  The city doesn’t care about that.” 

Workers also sited the physical cost of moving the various trades to other areas.

"That’s not going to be cheap.” 

Another worker compared another century-old Calvert Vaux designed building the city recently renovated in the park.   

“It could be another Tavern on the Green,” the city worker said comparing the tax payer funded debacle that wound up costing more than double the original estimate.  

“This building needs a lot of work, it’s old. We work here so they can get away with it but they can’t if other people are going to be in here.” 

None of the workers spoken to this morning at the shop knew about the plan.

"Why would they tell us, we would be the last to know.”  

The Blacksmith shop dates back more than a century and includes one the city’s last remaining forges. (below)



(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on Images to enlarge.

The Central Park Conservancy which manages the park also had its eye on the building for its operations. They had proposed converting the building into much needed office space to serve as its new headquarters.

Read More:

City Hall, horse carriage operators butt heads over details in bill, delaying hearing

New York Daily News - January 14, 2016 - By Jennifer Fermino   

Police Release Information On Two Suspects Wanted In Highbridge Park Rape & Assault Last Month

Police are looking for two men accused of raping and beating a woman in Highbridge Park on December 17th. The victim was taken to an area hospital with facial trauma and a laceration to the back of her head. One suspect is described as a light-skinned Hispanic. 

Manhattan

Police are looking for two men accused of raping a woman inside a Washington Heights park last month.  

According to police, the 33-year-old victim met her two assailants on W. 179th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. at about 9:30 p.m.  The woman had never met the two before, but agreed to go to Highbridge Park with them, near Amsterdam Ave. and W. 177th St., according to sources familiar with the case, according to the New York Daily News. 


The other suspect was said to be wearing a long, black jacket with a fur hood.


Once there, they drank and smoked weed together, and the men raped and physically assaulted her, sources said.  

She was then taken by ambulance to an area hospital, where she was treated for facial trauma and a cut to the back of her head, police said.  

Police released photos of the two suspects Tuesday night, after investigators went looking for “viable video” of the men, an NYPD spokesman said.  

The first suspect is described as a Hispanic man with light skin, wearing a red cap with a black brim, a black waist length jacket, a white hoodie sweater with a black stripe on the hood, light colored jeans, and multicolored white and purple sneakers. 

Police describe the second suspect as a man wearing a three-quarter black coat with a fur lined hoodie, black jeans, a black cap, and multicolored red and black sneakers.  

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or
visiting www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

Read More:

Two suspects accused of raping woman in Highbridge Park in Washington Heights 
New York Daily News - January 13, 2016 - By John Annese    

Two men accused of beating, raping woman in Washington Heights park 

WPIX - January 13, 2015 

Woman Raped In Highbridge Park

A Walk In The Park - December 18, 2015 - Geoffrey Croft

Two Arrested In Brutal Battery Park City Attack

Police have arrested a 16, and 14-year-old wanted for attacking and robbing two sixteen-year - old teens in this dark alley in Battery Park City on December 19th.  Victims and witnesses charge that a newly hired AlliedBarton "security ambassador" did not intervene and delayed the calling of the police.  The attack left one of the victims with a concussion, a skull fracture, bleeding in his brain in three places and a swollen shut eye.   All nine of the area's lights are out at the time of the attack.  (Photos by Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) 

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Police have arrested two teens wanted in connection with the brutal attack and robbery of two 16-year-olds in Battery Park City last month, NYC Park Advocates has learned. 

A 16-year-old was arrested yesterday and charged with Robbery, Second Degree, and Assault. 

Police arrested a 14-year-old suspect on January 9th. He was charged with Robbery, Third Degree.     

Both suspects live on the lower Eastside near the Brooklyn Bridge. 

 

The incident sparked outrage by the victims who claim the newly hired AlliedBarton “safety ambassadors”  did not intervene to help the teens and delayed calling the police.  

The incident occurred just one day after AlliedBarton employees began working at the 92-acre complex.

The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) who hired AlliedBarton, states that employees,  “acted appropriately by immediately contacting NYPD, EMT services and the PEP,” a claim that victims and their parents vehemently deny.  

The actions of AlliedBarton employees has renewed the fears of residents and elected officials who have complained bitterly since finding out about the Authority’s move to replace PEP offices with civilians at a October BPCA board meeting.

Victims and witnesses said on the night of December 19th, four teens - two males and two girls - had just left Shake Shack on Murray Street when they noticed they were being followed by a group of approximately fifteen black teens, mostly males. 

The group surrounded them in a dimly lit area near the ballfields.

 “They (four people) were kicking him while he was unconscious," said the friend who also sustained injuries during the beating.

 “The security guard just stood there and watched and did nothing,”   the victim said of the AlliedBarton employee.

"He wasn't even yelling at them," the victim continued.

"He was just standing there, doing nothing. He couldn’t care less. it’s scary. Instead calling the police, he called his supervisor.

It took the police between 20 and 30 minutes to come.” 

"He stood there and watched it happen," one the girl explained.  

"I said, 'you are not even yelling at them to stop it. He said,'I can’t get involved.' He kept saying, 'I can’t get involved."' 

"I was terrified," she said. "It was very traumatic."

Several victims said the ambulance was delayed while the AlliedBurton employees figured out what to do.  

"AlliedBarton security personnel on duty did nothing to help the children" the mother of victim with a concussion said in a statement. 

The teens were attacked on Saturday, December 19th while walking through the Terrace, a dimly lit area near the ballfields and the Asphalt Green, between North End Avenue and Murray St.  just after 10 p.m.

Teens Viciously Attacked In Battery Park City While AlliedBarton Security Ambassador Watches

A Walk In The Park - January 7, 2016 - By Geoffrey Croft 

Police Capture Fifth Suspect Wanted In Brooklyn Playground Gang Rape

Let There Be Light. The handball court area where the attack took place was lit up last night with flood lights provided by the NYPD.  The Parks Department also repaired all of the broken lights on the bathroom. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.



Two of the five suspects arrested for a gang rape that took place at a Brooklyn playground. (Photo: Paul Martinka

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

Police have captured the fifth suspect wanted in Thursday’s gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in Osborn Playground.

Authorities picked up the 17-year-old this morning at Tilden High School.  

Police are still searching for the gun and are expected to obtain a search warrant for the suspects residence on Rockaway Parkway in East New York.

All five of the suspects are expected to be moved from Brooklyn's SVU headquarters on Washington Avenue momentary to Brooklyn Supreme Court where they will be arraigned. 

  

All of the playground's gates remain unlocked by the Parks Department at night even after last week's attack.

Four of the suspects were in custody by Sunday after police released surveillance video of the group entering a nearby bodega before Thursday's attack.

The playground was unlocked at the time of the attack.

The woman was in Osborn Playground, near Osborn Street and Hegeman Avenue with her father when they were approached by five men, one brandished a gun. The group told her father to get the F**k out of there.

The woman said that she was grabbed by the men near the handball courts.  All five of the assailants raped her according to police.

The victim’s father flagged down a patrol car.

The victim was treated at Kings County Hospital.

The incident occured Thursday night at approximately 9:20pm. within the confines of the 73rd Pct.      


The Upper Eastside's Ruppert Park was locked up safe and sound last night.





SHOULD'VE ACTED QUICKER: Bratton says NYPD didn't alert community fast enough to Brooklyn playground gang rape as last of five suspects is in handcuffs
New York Daily News - January 12, 2016 - By Graham Rayman, Rocco Parascanndola, Larry McShane

Four Teen Suspects Wanted In Park Gang Rape In Police Custody

On Saturday police released surveillance video of the group entering a nearby bodega before Thursday's attack in the unlocked Osborn Playground. The father of the victim went into the store during the attack to call police but was not helped. He was later able to flag down a passing patrol car who responded to the scene. 

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

The police have four of the five teen suspects wanted in Thursday night's gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in Osborn Playground.

The teens, a 14-year-old, 17-year-old and two 15-year-olds have been in police custody since last night. 

Two of the boys were brought in by their parents. Police apprehended two others. Charges are pending. A fifth suspect remains at large.

  

Police released surveillance footage on Saturday night showing the suspects in a nearby bodega.

At a press conference on Sunday Brooklyn politicians blasted the NYPD for waiting two days before informing the public about the rape.  

Borough President Eric Adams, a former New York City police captain, charged the public would have been immediately notified had the rape occurred in Central Park instead of Osborn Playground in crime-ridden Brownsville.

“The imperative to catch those people shouldn’t matter if the park is Osborn [Playground] or Central Park

” he said.  “The same level of urgency must be followed.” 

“The N.Y.P.D. should have reported this immediately ” Mr. Adams said.  “You can’t have a crime of this magnitude and this level of savage behavior and not have the residents of that area become aware of what happened.”

A Walk In The Park first posted the story at 6:17 on Friday night, several news outlets however said when they called DCPI to confirm the story they refused to.

Playground Not Locked

The Parks Department, who has a legal responsibility to lock playgrounds at dusk,  has not yet answered why the playground was unlocked at that hour.

The sad fact is this incident would not have occurred in the playground had they done their job. 

Unfortunately this is not the first time an incident like this has happened.  In 2002 a 23-year-old woman was gang raped in Brooklyn’s Lincoln Terrace Park in a bathroom which was supposed to be locked at night.  Her nephew was held in an adjasent bathroom stall during the attack.

On Sunday the Borough President also noted that the playground is “nearly pitch-black at night with no working lampposts.”    

Mutliple media outlets have also focused on the lack of working safety lights in the playground. 

It is the Parks Department’s job to inspect the lights and the Department of Transportation to repair them after they are notified.

The Parks Department has not answered if there were light outage reports at the playground. 

"We must be proactively aggressive to keep women safe including better lighting and design of public spaces like Osborn Playground," Mr. Adams said.   

4 Suspects in Brooklyn Rape Are in Custody

New York Times - January 10, 2016 - By Benjamin Mueller and Nate Schweber 

Update: Woman Sexually Assaulted In Bronx Park In Daylight

Bronx

A woman in her early 40's reported to police that she was walking inside Van Courtland Park near 242nd Street on Thursday at 2:00pm when a black male in his 30's, dressed in all black, grabbed her shoulder from behind and he put hand down the front of her pants. 

The perpetrator fled on foot towards Broadway.

The incident occured within the confines of the 50th Pct.

 - Geoffrey Croft

Update: Teen Raped At Gun Point By Group In Brooklyn Playground

Police released surveillance video of the group entering a nearby bodega before Thursday's attack in Osborn Playground.
The playground was unlocked when the woman was raped.

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

Police are searching for suspects wanted in the heinous sexual assault of an eighteen year-old female by a group of several men in a Brownsville playground, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The woman told police she was in Osborn Playground, near Osborn Street and Hegeman Avenue with her father when they were approached by five men, one brandished a gun. The group told her father to get the F**k out of there.

The woman said that she was grabbed by the men near the handball courts. All five of the assailants raped her according to police.

The victim’s father  flagged down a police car. 

The perpetrators are described as black males in their early twenties to early thirties. They fled on foot.

The victim was treated at Kings County Hospital.

The incident occured Thursday night at approximately 9:20pm. with in the confines of the 73rd Pct. 

Screen grabs from video surveillance of the suspects wanted in Thursday's horrific attack. 

Anyone with information on the suspects’ whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577 TIPS. 

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

Read/View More:

SURVEILLANCE VIDEO RELEASED OF 5 SUSPECTS WANTED IN 
CONNECTION WITH BROWNSVILLE PLAYGROUND RAPE

Eyewitness News  - January 9, 2016 

NYPD Seeks 5 Men in Gang-Rape at Brooklyn Playground
WNBC -  January 9, 2016 

18-year-old woman raped by group of five men at Brooklyn playground 

New York Daily News - By Ross Keith, Thomas Tracy, Ben Kochman 

Teen walking in park with dad raped by group of men

New York Post -  January 9, 2016 - By Amanda Woods

Surveillance video shows suspects in Brownsville gang rape of 18-year-old

Pix 11 - January 9, 2016 - By Magee Hickey,  Alyssa Zauderer