Now, a Democratic member of the New York City council is calling out the NYPD for “brutality” and “Asian hate” after she reportedly bit a police officer through the skin during a protest.
Police say Susan Zhuang bit a deputy police chief during a protest against a planned homeless shelter in her Brooklyn district. She was arrested. On top of the felony charge of assault in the second degree, she was also charged with assault, unlawful assembly, obstruction of government operation, and resisting arrest.
“The NYPD didn’t need to use so much force.” I was let down. It is not okay for any officer to be violent or unfair to people. Bad behavior by police is bad. It is wrong to abuse the police. “Using physical force against people who aren’t guilty is wrong,” Zhuang said last week.
“Our New York Police Department has overstepped their bounds and been unfair to many Asian people.” “All kinds of Asian hate must stop,” she said.
The council member said she was pulling over to help an old woman who was stuck in a roadblock when she was arrested.
“Someone came up behind me as I tried to help her. One police officer pulled my hair and another grabbed my neck, and they each had two hands on each of my wrists, she said.
When Zhuang talked to Fox 5, she broke down in tears and said the 80-year-old woman she was trying to save made her think of her grandma. She also showed that her arms were hurt.
A picture of Frank DiGiacomo, the deputy chief who was chomped, showed a bloody bite mark that went deep into his skin.
When she was arrested, Zhuang was against building a planned shelter for homeless people in her southern Brooklyn district. Protesters said it would make people less safe and called for affordable homes to be built on the land instead. There were fights with the police during the protest, and Zhuang was accused of hitting a deputy police chief.
By state law, if a council member in New York City is found guilty of a crime, they are automatically kicked off the council. In general, the expulsion would happen right away after the felony sentence, no matter how bad or what kind of felony it was.
The Committee on Standards and Ethics is also an internal body of the city council that can look into and suggest punishments for members who are found to have broken the rules, even if they have not been found guilty of a crime.
On the job, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said, “Councilwoman Zhuang has been a great partner to the New York City Police Department for a long time.” “But actions today, of assaulting one of our police officers, a deputy chief, by biting him viciously in the arm, I can’t explain it right now.”
