DA eyes bust of homeless advocate as cops tried to clear E. Village park

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is scrutinizing the NYPD’s arrest of an advocate for homeless people on charges that prosecutors swiftly rejected, the Daily News has learned.

The bizarre Nov. 10, 2021, confrontation between the volunteer, Derrick DeMaria, and Lt. Jermaine Oden and Police Officer Md. Khader in Tompkins Square Park was captured on cell phone video obtained by The News.

DeMaria (photo) says he was assisting people as the cops booted them from the East Village park.

A criminal complaint accused DeMaria, 33, of snatching a comforter belonging to a homeless person from Khader as the cop removed property from a park entrance. DeMaria then defied orders from Khader and Oden to give the comforter back to the cops, the complaint charges.

But late last year, prosecutors concluded that simply didn’t happen and declined to bring charges. Video from the scene obtained by The News also puts the police account into question.

“It does not appear that there was ever an effort to physically grab the property back from the defendant. Based on our investigation, it appears the lieutenant never requested the property back from the defendant,” Assistant District Attorney Samantha Levitz wrote in a Nov. 24 email.

DeMaria spent eight hours in a cell at the nearby 9th Precinct stationhouse, where police charged him with obstructing governmental administration.

The charge was dismissed Nov. 29.

Levitz disclosed to DeMaria’s lawyer Paul Mills that an interview with Khader, the arresting officer, conflicted with the arrest report he filled out, according to Mills.

“None of this had happened, and it’s all on the body cam,” said DeMaria, a volunteer with

Washington Square Park Neutral Aid.

Video footage shows cops allowed volunteers to take the homeless people’s belongings. Oden is seen observing the volunteers rolling up large bundle of blankets less than two minutes before making an aggressive about-face, ordering DeMaria’s arrest for holding the same items. DeMaria said the cop accused him of possession of stolen property.

“Are you kidding me?” a handcuffed DeMaria says on the cell phone footage.

Police initially charged DeMaria with criminal possession of stolen property on top of the obstruction charge. Both misdemeanors can carry up to one year in jail. But the NYPD dropped the latter charge after DeMaria was released with a desk appearance ticket.

On Jan. 27, DeMaria met with the Manhattan DA’s police accountability chief, Nicholas Viorst, who wanted to know his side of the story. At the prosecutor’s office, DeMaria watched a second video of his arrest captured by NYPD body cameras, which he reviewed with Viorst, he said.

“[Viorst] contacted me, he said they had been going through some old files and that something about my case stood out to him,” said DeMaria.

The police accountability unit contacted DeMaria again Feb. 4, but it has not reached out since, according to a source familiar with the case.

The status of the probe was unclear. The DA’s office declined to comment.

Mills said he believed the cops just wanted to get his client out of the way while they finished kicking homeless people out of the park and throwing their belongings in a garbage truck.

“Police and prosecutors routinely bring charges that have no foundation and they have no intention of prosecuting,” said Mills.

DeMaria plans to sue the city for the arrest. He filed a notice of claim for $225,000 in damages with the comptroller’s office in February.

On the campaign trail, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said stronger police accountability would be one of his priorities as DA. He vowed that cops who commit crimes would not get special treatment from his office.

Mills said he hopes Bragg’s office will hold the cops who arrested his client accountable.

“If somebody snatches you up off the street and hustles you into a vehicle and drags you off to another location where you don’t want to be, that’s a felony crime in the state of New York called ‘kidnapping,’ OK?” said Mills.

“And the badge means nothing unless it’s a lawful arrest.”

An police spokesman said the NYPD would review DeMaria’s lawsuit “if and when” it is filed. The Police Benevolent Association declined to weigh in on Khader’s behalf. A spokesman for the lieutenants union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.