What Sparked the Anti-Shelter Protest Where a Councilmember Allegedly Bit a Cop

South Brooklyn Councilmember Susan Zhuang (D-Bensonhurst) was charged with second degree assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration after an altercation Wednesday morning during which she allegedly bit a police officer, city officials said.

The incident occurred during a spontaneous protest against a planned homeless shelter in Zhuang’s district that has been the target of weeks of demonstrations from the neighborhood’s increasingly right-leaning Asian American community.

Felix Tager, a spokesperson for Zhuang’s office, said Wednesday afternoon that they had not yet been able to contact Zhuang and declined to provide further comment immediately.

Zhuang was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal court and released on her own recognizance Wednesday evening. She’s due back in court on Oct. 15.

City officials maintain the South Brooklyn community district doesn’t have a single homeless shelter, despite the unprecedented arrival of tens of thousands of migrants from the southern border, 60,000 of whom are now living in emergency shelters.

But nonetheless, anger against the proposed shelter, which is slated to provide mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and vocational training for 150 homeless New Yorkers, has been bubbling for months, with rallies in several rallies at the site of the shelter on 86th Street and another at City Hall in late May.

The commotion bubbled over early Wednesday morning, following a slew of 311 complaints about work occurring at the site early in the morning. A crowd of angry residents started to gather outside, including Zhuang, who posted a video to X shortly before 6 a.m. where she was yelling at a police officer behind a barricade along with other protesters.

“They do not have a permit,” she could be heard yelling. “You only protect the developer. There’s no public protection.”

City officials said there are active demolition permits for the site , but are looking into reports about work starting too early. A special after hours variance is required to work before 7 a.m.

Community activist Kenneth Chiu, who lives in Flushing, Queens, told THE CITY he was standing alongside Zhuang as the situation got increasingly tense. An older woman had collapsed on the ground partially under the police barricade, and Chiu tried to move the barricade to help the woman up, he said. That’s when an officer jumped the barricade and started making arrests.

Videos circulating in WeChat groups posted to X by Yiatin Chu, the president of the Asian Wave Alliance, showed Zhuang scuffling with officers as she’s taken away in handcuffs. A longer video also circulating in WeChat showed NYPD officers and protesters pushing the barricade from opposing sides as onlookers scream.

“I didn’t see the biting, but I saw a bite mark,” Chiu told THE CITY.

At an unrelated press conference Wednesday , NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry showed a picture of the purported bitten arm, PIX11 reported.

“The chief kept on pointing the finger at me saying that I started the problem. And I caused him to be bitten,” Chiu said, while denying the police chief’s account and defending Zhuang. “We didn’t start getting physical. We were demanding answers to our questions, which we think is very relevant.”

Police didn’t say how many people were arrested overall, and protesters remained in the streets through the afternoon.

Adverse Reactions

Zhuang’s alleged chomp drew rebuke from other South Brooklyn Democrats. In a joint statement, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Councilmember Justin Brannan, called the incident “deeply disturbing” and called it antithetical to Zhuang’s “self-portrayal as a champion of law and order.”

“Sowing division and vitriol never works and always backfires,” the two wrote. “True leadership is about working to find solutions, not empty obstructionism that does nothing to address our city’s housing crisis or create safe places for homeless New Yorkers to live.”

While emergency migrant shelters run by agencies like the city’s Office of Emergency Management, Housing Preservation and Development or Health and Hospitals open and close with limited or no notice to the surrounding community, the city’s Department of Homeless Services, which is overseeing the Bensonhurst shelter, has a more formal notification process.

DHS sent a letter, reviewed by THE CITY, dated Nov. 9 to the local community board last fall, which mentioned the shelter will be for 150 single adults run by the nonprofit VIP Community Services .

“We expect that many of the residents at this shelter will have roots in this community and the Brooklyn area more broadly,” the notification reads, adding it’s the first shelter of any kind in the community district.

Alongside crime and education, opposition to shelters has been a catalyzing issue for Asian American voters who’ve swung increasingly to the right in areas like South Brooklyn and northeastern Queens over the past several years.

Zhuang, who has been involved in rallies against the proposed shelter for months, won a contested Democratic primary, and secured her seat in the Council last year, in part by campaigning against a migrant shelter that briefly opened in the Sunset Park recreation center, THE CITY reported.

Those involved in the demonstrations pointed to the future shelter’s proximity to the subway, stores, and schools.

“We have a great fear and a strong message,” said Sam Ni, 45, a community activist who’s been involved in organizing against the shelter though he lives in nearby Dyker Heights. “We’re not against the homeless just It’s the wrong place and wrong building.”Zhuang, a member of the City Council’s “common sense caucus” which includes the body’s only six Republicans and three right-leaning Democrats, more regularly sides with the GOP on a number of issues.

Nevertheless, her alleged actions Wednesday garnered criticism from would-be allies.

“I stand with the Brooklyn community against the Bensonhurst homeless shelter and will continue to fight alongside them to stop it,” Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis wrote on X.

“With that being said, I’m deeply disappointed in Councilwoman Zhuang’s behavior at today’s protest. There is absolutely no excuse for assaulting and biting a police officer and she must be held accountable for this aggressive act.”

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