The unusual arrest, made by officers with the New York City Parks Department, has prompted allegations of excessive force, while raising questions about how the city should monitor its waterfront.
Velasquez, a 33-year-old native of Briarwood, Queens, said he was wading off Beach 97th Street shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday when he saw at least half a dozen Parks Department officers calling to him from the sand.
A spokesperson for the Parks Department defended the enforcement action, calling the after-hours swim “extremely dangerous” given the lack of supervision. The city’s lifeguards leave their chairs at 6 p.m., marking the official end of legal swimming hours. Velasquez said he was placed in a police van, then driven to the nearby 100th Precinct, where he was handcuffed to a bench for close to an hour. He left with a criminal summons for disorderly conduct and failure to comply with a peace officer’s directive.
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