Drug Arrests At Queens Housing Development Spark Protest
FILE – NYPD Cruiser (credit: Getty Images)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Residents of the Jamaica section of Queens erupted in protest late Friday, after police arrested two men following an alleged drug deal.
As 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported, the residents complained that Raynard Fields, 27, and his brother, Corey Crichlow, 33, were victims of a campaign of harassment by the NYPD.
Police were in the parking lot of the Baisley Park Houses public housing development, at Foch and Guy R. Brewer boulevards in Queens, when they allegedly saw a drug transaction go down in a car Friday evening. Crichlow, who was driving, was a known drug dealer who had done time in prison for drug possession, according to police.
Police said Crichlow violently shoved the officers to the ground. Fields was arrested for attempting to defeat Chrichlow’s arrest, police said.
Soon after the arrests, the officer and sergeant involved were surrounded by neighbors, some of whom were throwing bottles and rocks.
Some residents also marched to the 113th Precinct police station, at 167-02 Baisley Blvd., accusing police of harassing young black men in the public housing development and knocking over garbage cans as they stormed down the street, according to a New York Daily News report.
Witnesses claimed to the newspaper that the officers beat the suspect.
No one was arrested in what was characterized as a peaceful gathering at the stationhouse, the newspaper reported.
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