Newly released police body camera footage captures the moment a Yonkers police officer is forced into a scuffle with a group of unruly immigrants at a local hotel filled with asylum seekers.
Police arrested two people after a brawl at a local Ramada Inn on Tuesday afternoon, after which footage showed they were surrounded by an unruly immigrant mob and assaulted in Spanish. There is.
Police were called to the hotel shortly before 1 p.m. on reports of a guest becoming uncontrollable.
“He’s out of control here,” a Ramada employee said during a 911 call. “He’s very violent towards everyone. He’s throwing things at everyone. We need someone here right now.”
Footage shows officers entering the lobby, grabbing Arnal Kent, 35, and taking him into custody surrounded by other migrant crew members.
“Why does he have to hit me?” Mr. Kent could be heard jaw-cracking in Spanish as he struggled to escape. “They won’t take me. They won’t take me. I’m not doing anything.”
At that point, a 24-year-old immigrant woman named Yamilet Hernandez pushed the officers and blocked the door of the police vehicle to prevent them from letting Kent inside.
Yonkers officers managed to get the handcuffed suspect inside, but then de-escalated the situation, video shows.
Minutes later, they returned to Hernandez and tried to handcuff her, but she tried to fight the officers, forcing her to the ground to handcuff her to the jeers of bystanders.
Police said Kent was charged with intimidation, disorderly conduct and obstruction of public administration and was released without bail.
Hernandez was charged with second-degree assault, obstruction of governmental administration, and resisting arrest and was being held in the Westchester County Jail on $500 bail.
In a statement Thursday, Yonkers Police Department spokesman Detective Sergeant Frank DiDomizio said police “responded to the call and responded appropriately.”
The Ramada Inn on Tuckahoe Road has been approached by New York City officials to take in about 250 immigrants in May 2023 as the Big Apple struggles to find space for an influx of asylum seekers. .
