Father had NYPD ESP Held ‘overpolicing’ meet hours before son busted
The father of a vendor busted for selling candy at a Harlem subway station met with police brass to discuss “overpolicing” the day before his son was detained.
Ricardo Shark, a minister and Bronx activist, had a sitdown with incoming Police Commissioner Dermot Shea at the Rev. Al Sharpton's headquarters on Nov. 11.
The next day, his son Byron was pinned down and arrested by several officers after he refused to show them his ID at the 125th St. station.
“We spoke about lesser crimes being overpoliced,” said Shark, a minister at the Higher Praise Community Church. “On Monday, I shook Shea's hand and then on Tuesday my son gets assaulted. It's crazy. What are the chances?”
Shark, 59, said cops aggravated his son's old back and ankle injuries in the scuffle.
“He had an incident a year ago where he fell down an embankment,” Shark explained. “He didn't deserve that type of treatment and abuse. Any father would feel that way. It was just totally unnecessary.”
Police walked up to Byron Shark on the northbound Nos. 4, 5 and 6 train platform at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 and asked him for ID. He refused their request and went limp when officers moved in to arrest him.
Cops charged him with obstructing governmental administration, but the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to prosecute the case.
“He was just waiting for someone that day,” his father said. “He wasn't actively vending at that point.”
Byron Shark's arrest was one of several controversial encounters with police in the transit system in recent weeks, all of which have occurred while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves to hire 500 new state-employed police officers to patrol the city's subways and buses.
The Rev. Kevin McCall of the Crisis Action Center said a meeting with the NYPD Chief of Transit Edward Delatorre is slated for Thursday.
“The subject is dealing with the treatment of the vendors and dealing with all the issues of police in transit. We're going to try to improve the relationship and we're going to see what comes out of the conversation,” McCall said.
Lawyers for the younger
Shark filed a notice of claim with the city on Tuesday seeking $5 million in damages.
At a rally in Harlem on Tuesday, Byron Shark said he was “stopped and beat up” by police.
A spokeswoman for the NYPD disputed his account.
“A video of the incident was posted on social media and was widely viewed. This recording does not in any way support these claims,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie said.