Photo credit: Sara Pekow
Eric Umansky, a deputy managing editor of ProPublica who lives in the neighborhood, is reaching out to the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens community for information related to an incident on Halloween night that involved a group of teens from Red Hook. The teens were followed and then swarmed by uniformed and undercover cops, taken to the 76th Precinct in handcuffs, before being released without charges.
Umanksy wrote to us:
'On Halloween night, my family saw police converge on a group of black teenage boys in Cobble Hill. My wife saw an unmarked NYPD car going the wrong way hit one of the boys. The police say that didn’t happen. They say, “An unknown male who had fled the scene ran across the hood of a stationary police car.”
'On Halloween night, my family saw police converge on a group of black teenage boys in Cobble Hill. My wife saw an unmarked NYPD car going the wrong way hit one of the boys. The police say that didn’t happen. They say, “An unknown male who had fled the scene ran across the hood of a stationary police car.”
Three other boys— age 12, 14, and 15—were then arrested. Police said they fit the description of people who had punched someone and stolen a cellphone.

I am eager to find out more. I can be reached via Messenger, 917-687-8406, or eric.umansky@propublica.org. I'm happy to not use names.'
The incident was witnessed by quite a few people. Apparently, the officers of the 76th Precinct were investigating the theft of a cell phone from another teenager in Carroll Park earlier in the evening.
There have been a few such robberies in the park since the beginning of the year that we know of, including this one in May. This, in no way seems to justify the over-the-top response from the 76th Precinct on Halloween night.
If you witnessed the incident, please reach out to Eric.
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11 comments:
Le's just bash the cops again. New York seems to be good at that lately. So glad I moved out of that state years ago.
Anon 7:56 This is not about cop bashing - it's about questioning and going after what really happened, accountability, and equal justice for all.
Thank you for this, Margaret
the police officers in the 76th most certainly deserved to be bashed. they are invisible to everyone in the neighborhood - you never see them on the streets, never are they a part of the neighborhood. they don’t respond to calls for assaults happening here on our blocks, they never respond to general call for assistance, their private cars illegally take up an entire block of city parking, often blocking bike paths and hydrants.
if you live in carroll gardens and have an emergency, you’d be better off calling FDNY. they’ll be there within three minutes, no questions asked.
the cops? who knows where they are.
November 08, 2019 7:56 PM
Ditto.
76th precinct are total bums. My apt on Union St b/t Henry and Clinton was burglarized years back, and it took the cops from that precinct almost 30m to respond to my 911 call, despite me living < 500 feet away. The officers were rude, lazy, kicked their feet on my coffee table and were overall disrespectful. They didn't even inspect obvious clues like surveillance footage from the nearby ladder up to the roof from Mazola bakery's. F them all.
Systematic cop bashing in NYC is a sore point as I highly value and respect the NYPD, yet I also had a deeply disappointing experience when my car was stolen on Carroll Street four years ago. Officers from the 76th didn't show any interest or compassion and they only called three weeks later to inform me that my car had crossed the Holland tunnel a few times (long after the facts. Thanks.) I'm still reeling over this. Recently, I attended a local meet-and-greet in Gowanus and really liked the new generation of police officers. They were young, idealistic, willing to do the legwork and serve the public. I chose to trust them and I want them to feel supported. I also want to stay vigilant and keep them accountable and most cops understand that.
A follow up: On Wednesday night at a Town Hall Meeting hosted by the mayor, Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison responded to a woman who requested more officers to walk the streets of her neighborhood. Quoting from Gothamist:
He said for anyone that did not understand the concept of neighborhood policing, it was simple: “If you are a New York City resident, you have a police officer assigned to you. And shame on you for not knowing who that officer is.”
It was a line delivered to elicit applause, but the room stayed mostly quiet, while some in the audience exchanged confused looks.
Harrison continued, “Every single cop has a cell phone, every single cop has an email address. We’re on social media, promoting all the things we’re doing. If you have cops that you want on foot to post in your community, in your neighborhood, it is incumbent to make sure you reach out to that NCO (neighborhood coordination officer) and develop those relationships. That’s what this neighborhood policing philosophy is all about."
He added that if someone wants more cops walking the beat in their neighborhood, “it’s a simple fix, it’s a simple phone call.” Then he urged people to attend their local “Build the Block” meeting with their NCOs. “Please, tap into it and if you need a cop to come to your building, or to walk on your block, or hey, you want to have them on bikes, or come into your school, that’s something that they’ll do.”
I recently went to the 76th precinct community monthly meeting because I have a problem with people hanging out in their cars in front of my house. It was great, I got a lot of support, met the local cop assigned to my street and was told to text them anytime their on duty and they will respond. I have and they did, it was great!
amanda, that is great to know. i wish the 76th did a better job of making this info available because this is clearly something that many residents don’t know about - myself included.
thanks for sharing.
Our local precinct should not be resistant to outside criticism. As a community we have a right to hold our police officers to high ethical standards, if not them, who?. I do think the few bad cops at the 76, make the honest, hardworking cops look bad. When one officer does something bad, all officers have done something bad. Be sure to report an abusive police officer, they exist to aid in the service of justice. My experience with the 76, community affairs detective Vincent Marrone is helpful, honest, kind, willing and compassionate. I've watched him help push a broken down car in 98 degree weather. On the other hand, PA Hendrickson (might be spelling error) dismissed my valid complaints by saying "you're spending a lot of time thinking about this". Bottom line is, when we see something we say something this even applies to witnessing bad policing.
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