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On Wednesday morning around 9:30 a.m., a swarm of NYPD officers turned an eviction defense action in Bedford-Stuyvesant into a national news story by aggressively arresting four protesters, including Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé.
Ossé was at the action as part of his ongoing advocacy against deed theft, the genre of fraud where scammers take control of homeowners' properties, often via forged signatures or convincing them to sign over deeds. The lawmaker was initially held in Brooklyn's 79th Precinct, and then, after videos of his arrest spread through both traditional and social media, the councilmember was released and then taken to the hospital with a possible concussion.
"I was just there to stand for my neighbor, who I didn't want to see her and her family removed from her home," Ossé said at a press conference after he was released from police custody. "To be met with violence from the NYPD for doing my job has been really disheartening and truly traumatic."