A husband and wife staying at a migrant shelter in New York City were charged for allegedly resisting arrest following a video-recorded confrontation with police officers in what advocates are calling one of the latest instances of human rights abuse in emergency refuges.
The video, which was first obtained and published by the New York Times, showed two officers confronting Yanny Cordero, 47, of Venezuela, while he was holding his one-year-old son on Friday. Cordero is shown pinned against a closed elevator door and surrounded by witnesses.
In the video, an officer is seen using what appears to be a stun gun on Cordero and then punches him in the face. His wife, Andrea Parrar, 22, is heard crying and seen trying to shield him from police. The man filming says in Spanish, “This is abuse!” Someone asks in Spanish, “Where are the human rights?” In the continuing struggle, a third officer punches Cordero twice in the face before he is subdued to the ground.
Cordero and Parrar were charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and obstructing government administration, police said. Cordero was also charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17.
Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said they are troubled by the recorded confrontation and called on the district attorney to look into this incident of brute force.
“Individuals in the City’s care must be actually cared for – and not hurt – by staff or police,” Awawdeh said in a statement.
According to authorities, New York City police responded to a report of a dispute with an intoxicated man “who was threatening staff members” at a city-run shelter in the Jamaica, Queens borough.
Cordero, who does not speak English, told the Times that the dispute started after he returned to the shelter with food purchased outside. He said he was not under the influence and hadn’t been drinking because he had work the next day.
He said a shelter employee…
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