Long feud at root of police incident
Residents on either side have called authorities on Gaindarpersaud
Carol Eto gets angry when talking about the emotional and financial toll her long-standing dispute with her next-door neighbor, Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, has had on her.
“I am not moving, I will die in here,” she vowed at one point during Tuesday’s conversation about her dispute over a concrete driveway and fence with Gaindarpersaud, the man seen struggling on video last week with a city police officer after accusations he slashed two tires on Eto’s son’s car.
Parbattie Datt, 51, lives on the other side of Gaindarpersaud, and doesn’t get along with him either.
Datt said she has a video of maggots around her fence and property resulting from Gaindarpersaud dumping his garbage right next to her fence, which is close to her kitchen. She has called the city code enforcement office and is waiting for it to look into the claims.
“I had my land surveyed and the surveyor put a pole and he took it out, and I caught him on my video camera,” she said.
Gaindarpersaud is Guyanese as are the two women, and both said Tuesday they’ve called police on him multiple times and won’t let him make their life miserable.
The two neighbors say after seeing videos of Patrolman Brian Pommer chase, struggle, punch and knee Gaindarpersaud on or near his neck and head area, that the officer acted appropriately.
“I personally feel that they did the right thing,” Eto said, adding that
Gaindarpersaud is just taking advantage of the global protest for racial equity and for police reforms following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, who died after Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Steve Ram, who is also Guyanese and has in the past helped organize Guyana Heritage Day, said earlier this week that the police response only made an already tense situation worse.
“The police should have de-escalated the situation and that is my main concern that he (Officer Pommer) did not,” said Ram, adding that Pommer shouldn’t have run after Gaindarpersaud and that Police Chief Eric Clifford “compounded it by agreeing with whatever happened.”
The July 7 encounter in Schenectady that began as a call that Gaindarpersaud had slashed a neighbor’s tires has sparked protests in Schenectady. It also led to calls for bans on police control holds to a person’s head or neck which the department outlawed in the days after the incident.
Pommer, a seven-year veteran, remains on desk duty as the police and the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office conduct an internal review into his actions.
Gaindarpersaud, 31, is charged with resisting arrest and criminal mischief. He is scheduled to be arraigned on those misdemeanors on July 21.
He did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment and his attorney, Derek Andrews, declined comment when asked about the problems his client had with neighbors.
Clifford has said Pommer didn’t violate any law but will likely face some sort of discipline.
The chief and Mayor Gary Mccarthy have been making the rounds over the past few days, meeting with neighborhood groups, including a gathering Sunday at the Guyanese Community Center in Mont Pleasant where Eto and Datt told their stories.
City Council President John Mootooveren said he and County Legislator Philip Fields, who is also Guyanese, set up the meeting that attracted about 60 people to the center.
“It is not a racist incident, it’s a neighbor problem for 21/2 years and boils down to this unfortunate incident,” he said. “When they heard those stories then people get to understand exactly what’s going on here so I wouldn’t say they were divided, I think people weren’t hearing the true stories until Sunday.”
Mootoveren said he has been aware of issues among the neighbors, encouraged them to call police and code enforcement, but said the altercation has not divided Schenectady’s Guyanese population.
Citing the ongoing internal probe by the department’s Office of Professional Standards and the DA’S Office, Mootooveren declined comment.
“I am concerned just like my colleagues on the City Council, even the mayor and the police chief have it made it very clear, but let’s wait and see the outcome of the investigation,” said Mootooveren, adding that some leaders at the center plan to reach out to Gaindarpersaud.
Eto, 65, said that her problems began in 2017 with the previous homeowner, who began the process of building the concrete driveway, before selling to Gaindarpersaud. She soon realized that the city erred in allowing Gaindarpersaud to encroach on her property, and informed him of her plans to erect a 6-foot wood fence.
“I don’t care which way you twist and turn it, my 6-foot fence is going up there,” she said.
Eto said that’s when the intimidation and scare tactics began, including one instance where a group of about eight men stared her down. She started putting up the fence but had to stop to allow Gaindarpersaud to survey the land.
She paid for a survey of her own and then later finished building the fence, which extends from her front to just beyond her back porch.
“When I put that fence down, I could have insisted that City Hall break up the concrete on their side because they’re not supposed to have any concrete on the side there,” she said, adding that a $500 job ended up costing her $3,500 because of all the complications.
Eto said she is in the process of putting up a fence all around her property — and a security system.