Gerald Gadsden, 35, of Castle Hill, said he was stopped and
As the City Council considered changes to the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactic during heated hearings Wednesday, the Daily News took an impromptu poll that rendered stunning results.
Out of 20 young black and Latino men randomly asked if they had ever been stopped and frisked, 10 said, “Yes,” telling stories of being approached, questioned, and searched by cops.
Four had been arrested; not for carrying drugs or guns but for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Six were let go after the frisk, but never with an apology.
The men were questioned by a News reporter at the subway station at E. 161st St. and River Ave. near Yankee Stadium.
Cops found no reason to arrest Gerald Gadsden, 35, after they stopped him in Castle Hill three weeks ago. They told Gadsden, a juvenile counselor at Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, “Have a nice day. Stay out of trouble.”
“I had to eat that,” Gadsden said.
Gadsden was leaving a gym at 6:30 p.m. when three squad cars rolled up on him.
“They put me up on the car and asked if I had any automatic weapons on me,” Gadsden said.
“They were looking for a guy with an automatic weapon, and he had on jeans and t-shirt,” Gadsden said. “I had on sweatpants and a t-shirt.”
He said his clothes had no pockets and were close fitting.
“The whole situation was unnecessary. I felt out of place,” Gadsden said. “I’m not that kind of person. I’m a working man. My job is to help the police not have to work so hard, talking to kids, trying to keep them out of trouble. Meanwhile, I’m the one getting frisked.”
Others who were searched said challenging police about their right to search resulted in roughness, rudeness or even arrests.
A 15-year-old who gave just his first name — Emmanuel — sai dcops searched his backpack a few weeks ago as he was skateboarding with friends.
“I said, ‘I know my rights!’ They just threw me up on the wall and searched me,” Emmanuel said.
They found nothing and let him go.
Shameek Townsend, 26, was charged with disorderly conduct, after police stopped and searched his car in Long Island City without cause.
“I got into a disagreement with the officer,” Townsend said. “I said, ‘I felt you disrespected my intelligence.’”
“I understand there’s a lot of crime going around,” Townsend said. “But being a police officer, you have to have some training to separate regular citizens from criminals.”
