Parks Enforcement Patrol Attacks Battery Park City Resident

A BPC resident is handcuffed and put into an ambulance after a scuffle with Parks Enforcement (Photo courtesy: Jay Fine)

Two weeks ago, Battery Park City resident Adam Pratt was attacked by a Parks Enforcement Patrol officer when walking his dog on South End Avenue, reports Downtown Express. The patrolwoman approached him on a golf cart and requested ID. He didn’t have it on him and she then struck him in the face not one, not two, but three times with her walkie talkie. A bystander corroborated the account.

The Parks Department, which oversees the PEP, issued the following statement about the incident: “On Saturday, January 29, a man in Battery Park City was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and brought to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation after behaving irrationally and striking a female Parks Enforcement Officer. Conflicting reports state that the Parks Enforcement Officer initiated the confrontation. We will therefore take further steps to look into this.”

Clearly, Pratt and the PEP have differing accounts of what happened. Pratt, who has photographed PEP officers dozing off in the vehicles and thinks this incident was their way of getting back at him for causing trouble, was eventually handcuffed and placed in an ambulance and taken to a psych ward at Bellevue. He was eventually charged with ‘disorderly behavior,’ which was the only charge they could place on him. A later X-ray revealed rib contusions for Pratt. He plans to sue.

What do you think of Pratt vs. the PEP?

6 thoughts on “Parks Enforcement Patrol Attacks Battery Park City Resident

  1. Seth,
    What happened to the time when journalists used to research the story before writing about it?
    If you had done your research instead of reading it in the downtown express, you would have found out that there was a witness who came forward that saw the whole scenario as it unfolded.
    And there are several witnesses who saw the PEP officers use excessive force!
    The latest Xrays revealed several Cracked and Fractured ribs.
    What is this? A gossip rag? Or a community NEWS paper?
    PS. January 29th was less than ONE week ago.

  2. this is a blatant case of abuse of power and my hope is this incident will bring to light what appears to be a hostile attitude the enforcement staff has against the community it serves. Just yesterday I was walking along River Terrace and was nearly mowed down by an employee racing toward me on the sidewalk with his golf cart. I had to jump to get out of the way and turned to see him come within inches of people walking in the opposite direction. Who is MONITORING this behavior and how is it allowed to persist?

    1. This is outrageous conduct on the part of the PEP. Is there some way we can protest this kind of thuggery?

  3. Judge laughed at summons. THREW IT OUT, SO FAST. Too many residents saw the incident and the brutality conducted by the parks department.
    The Parks Officers also HIT HIS DOG as it was IN HIS ARMS, not mentioned. “behaving irrationally” CANT WAIT TO SEE THIS IN COURT.
    There were local reporters there and lawyers who SAW. Also, the Parks brutalized another resident in the same building in 2003. The Parks Officers are on record at March CB1 meeting for making SEXUAL ADVANCES to 14-16 yr old GIRLS.
    The harassment continues, the citizens are all recording the behaviors…..the authority is the main abuse for allowing this private contract for a bunch of THUGS. mydailycomplaint com . also check out the abuse on our YOUTUBE channel highlighting the Parks Officers behavior.

  4. You should investigate properly. Your statements are totally FALSE. Mt.Pratt never stuck an officer & his dogs are always leashed. Do research? THis resident has made reports against the department for years. Its called retaliation by the parks department. A whole group of them beat him and assaulted him as he HELD his DOG in his ARMS. Witnesses everywhere. Batteryparktv had witness reports on the scene. He received a disorderly behavior summons. If Mr.Pratt struck an officer, he would of been charged with a serious crime called assaulting an officer. This never happened and was never stated by the Parks dept or NYPD at scene. NYPD didn’t want to get involved into a future lawsuit by being at the scene, so they split “knowing the outrage of witness reports against the parks officers” THe disorderly behavior summons GOT TOSSED by the judge. THis case was just the start of the police brutality that has been the major talk of the fall of 2011 in NYC. Too bad, the parks officers are not Cops, but act in a thug ganglike way of behavior against the residents of battery park city. THe parks officers also make sexual advances to teenage girls AGE 14-16. As reported in CB1 March meeting. Our youtube page highlights the abuse of the Parks department in BPC at mydailycomplaint. The community supports a 20+ year resident because an issue of this magnitude needed to happen to OPEN UP THE EYES about the problems in battery park city and at the Battery Park City Authority.

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