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Photos: NYPD Just Removed Homeless Man From Manhattan Bridge Encampment
By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 17, 2014
Modified Apr 17, 2014
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 17, 2014
Modified Apr 17, 2014
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The man who has been living inside the Manhattan Bridge for the past year was uprooted by police this morning, a tipster who witnessed the man's removal tells us.
Gregory Addo, a Fort Greene resident who cycles over the bridge daily to his job as a video editor in Manhattan, was stopped by police this morning along with dozens of others as they removed the man—who goes by "Joe" or "Joey"—from his makeshift encampment:
At 10:20 AM police stopped cyclists on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge bike lane at the Manhattan enterance. They said they were "removing debris and don't want it to fall on your heads". After about 7 minutes of an NYPD officer on a latter cutting into something above the bike lane, he pulled out what looked like a large comforter and sleeping bag.
Shortly after that many, more officers showed up. The officer on the ladder began to pull out a man dressed in pajamas. The NYPD were not being aggressive and the man was not resisting. They were questioning him as they pulled out even more belongings.
As we (the 50 or so cyclists) waited, officers asked us to move back even further as they realized there was a second "home" just above our heads. NYPD decided to let us pass first before they started to remove the second unit above the bike lane.
Three NYPD officers were questioning the man whom was removed from the bridge. He did not seem to be under arrest and I overheard the NYPD talking to him about homeless shelter options.
As cyclists were cleared from the area, NYPD were turning away people trying to enter the bridge from the Manhattan side, asking them to use the south side of the bridge.
Addo said the extraction process involved around 15 or 20 officers of various rank—everyone from cops in blue shirts managing traffic, to what Addo described as "executive officers" in suits. Addo said that the police seemed to handle Joe with care, and that he wasn't arrested. (The NYPD confirmed that Joe was removed from the bridge, and that was taken to the 30th Street Men's Shelter, known as "Bellevue.")
Police discovered Joe last weekend while he was climbing a fence to get to his "coffin-sized living spaces"—he was mistaken for a jumper, which led cops to discover his shack. The shanty was built into the underside of the upper deck of the bridge—above the bike lanes, below car traffic— about 150 feet east into the bridge’s Brooklyn-bound side. He used discarded wood from Chinatown to fortify the space, which is about 10.5 square feet in total.
Joe had been living in the bridge because cops routinely tore down the encampment he'd built just off the bike on-ramp to the Manhattan Bridge.
Tagged
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Lauren Evans
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