NYC NOW - August 7, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

In Ozone Park, Queens, a local Dollar Tree store faces complaints of a severe rat infestation, with customers urging health officials to intervene. Also, New Jersey initiates a new tradition of commissioning official portraits for Lieutenant Governors, starting with the late Sheila Oliver and the state's first Lieutenant Governor, Kim Guadagno. Finally, a Friday incident in Union Square sparks concerns about NYPD's handling of large crowds after a PlayStation giveaway announcement on Twitch led to a disorderly situation.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, August 7th. Here's the Midday News from Michael Hill. In Ozone Park, Queens, customers say a rat infestation at their local dollar tree story is so bad they're being or they're begging city health officials to shut the place down. Photos from the store on Cross Bay Boulevard show not on bags of chips and beef jerky. droppings are scattered on the shelves. Local Block Association president, Sam Esposito, says he's never seen more deplorable conditions and alleges that staff at the discount store don't care about the problem. I would say 50% of all their product in there that's perishable

the rats had gotten to or were getting to and had holes in the bags and they kept them on the shelves. They didn't care. Residents plan to rally today and to pressure the city health department to close the store down by blocking the entrance. to the store today. The Department of Health and Dollar Tree did not immediately respond to our request for comment. An official portrait of New Jersey's late Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver is now in the works, marking the beginning of a new tradition in the Garden State. Governor Phil Murphy announced today the state will begin commissioning portraits for lieutenant governors, starting with Oliver in the state's first lieutenant governor, Kim Gwardano. Until now, only governors have been honored

with official portraits. Oliver died last week after an undisputed. Oliver died last week after an undisputed. closed illness. The governor's office says the painting process will take more than a year. Taking a look at your forecast now, 78 and partly clouding down, afternoon showers and thunderstorms today, mostly cloudy in 84 high, then tonight showers and storm chances likely overnight as well, heavy rainfall gusting at low of 72, after tomorrow's slim chance of showers and storms, sunny, and then mid to upper 80s. And I'm Jene P.E. And I'm Jene Pierre for WNYC.

The police response is just absolutely incredible. I don't think I've ever seen this many cops before. A chaotic incident in Union Square on Friday is raising questions about how NYPD officers respond to large crowds. Thousands of young people descended on the area after a popular Twitch streamer posted that he would host a PlayStation giveaway. His post quickly went viral. And when a crowd formed, things got out of hand. and the NYPD responded in full riot gear. WNYC's Charles Lane was on the scene. He spoke with my colleague, Michael Hill. So first, take us quickly back through what was happening there. What exactly happened?

So last week, two social media influencers, Kaisenat and Phantom promised the millions of online followers, as you said, free playstations and computers, and if they all came to Union Square. And people started assembling around 1.30 in the afternoon. And the two stars, appeared at around 4 p.m. And they were quickly swarmed. At about the same time, some of the fans tore down a construction fence that surrounded one of the subway station's exits on the south side of Union Square. They climbed on top of the covering over the exit. And according to police and several witnesses I talked to, they started throwing construction tools and soda bottles and fireworks. At about 4.30, a very large number of a police assembled and began dispersing the crowd. Charles, I got to say this, aerial views showed what did look like chaos on the ground.

Did the police response seem proportionate to what was happening on the ground? Well, I mean, I can say it was a level four response, which was NYPD's highest response level. They were in, as you said, full riot gear with, you know, just picture clubs and helmets and shields and loudspeakers and drones with loudspeakers on them. They were very organized and very disciplined. What they started to do is they formed a line and slowly corralled the crowd. I saw a group of young people throw soda bottles and firecrackers at the police, but the police didn't give chase to them, and they continued to use sir and ma'am when addressing them. According to police, the crowd was throwing things at both police and each other. However, what I saw was anger directed at the police and things were thrown at the police.

66 people were arrested, according to police, including Kaysanat. I also saw crowds stomping on cars and looting stores and restaurants and street fenders. I would say that was the minority, though. Of the thousands of people who were there, the vast majority of them were not committing crimes. However, the question of proportionate, it's a little bit tricky because it wasn't clear to me how much of the violence that was being committed was in response to the police response. Charles, so how was the NYPD not better prepare for something that so many other people apparently knew about from social media posts? Yeah, no, that's a great question. The police didn't have an answer for that on Friday. Chief of Department, Jeff Matary, said that

they will have an after-action report on the event for lessons learned. He said, quote, it speaks to the power of social media and the danger of social media, end quote. Matarie said that it was an unplanned and spontaneous event. However, NYPD does have a very impressive array of resources and people power at their disposal, and Senat told his millions of followers about the giveaway days earlier. The city, early this summer, as we know, paid a historic $13.7 million to settle a class action suit over how it handled crowds during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. What, if anything, does Friday's incident tell us about how the NYPD has changed its response to, handling big crowds like that? Well, what I saw was an extremely organized and disciplined police force

that assembled within an hour, which is very quickly. They faced thousands of people, with the vast majority of which were peaceful. With the Black Lives Matter protest, I think what we saw were more people and more anger. I think changing those proportions could possibly change how the police respond. That's WNYCH Charles Lane talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be back this evening.