Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

A young woman trying to get childcare assistance, so she can work, is violently arrested, her baby literally ripped from her arms by police, at an NYC SNAP office.

She's now in jail on bail she can't afford, charged w/ harming her own baby.

abc7ny.com/4868592/ via @ABC7NY

The alleged offense? The mother was sitting on the ground with her baby because the office was crowded and slow. She wasn't blocking anything or disturbing anyone. She was just quietly waiting her turn. She was no doubt exhausted. She works as a cleaner & has a baby.

The underlying offense here is trespass - b/c she was asked to leave the benefits office & refused, which is why the cops were called. There was no reason for staff to ask her to leave. She had a baby. They could have let her sit there or found her a chair.

The cops' actions are completely reckless & without justification. I have never seen a police officer violently take a baby like that. They wouldn't normally risk doing that if a baby were by being held by someone who were a threat to them let alone their mother

As I have discussed before, when we see a minor charge (here trespass) together w/ resisting arrest & obstructing governmental administration, that's a red flag for police brutality. Here b/c there's a baby they also had to add the acting in a manner injurious to a child charge.

How absolutely disgusting of these cops to arrest, & @BrooklynDA to charge, a mother with acting in a manner injurious to her own child when it was in fact the cops actions that put the child in danger.

Let's also be clear, the SNAP office would have video cameras, so @BrooklynDA would have viewed this footage before they made the decision to bring charges. As always, they act in a way that covers & protects the NYPD.

Thankfully someone waiting in the SNAP office had the foresight to film this or else we might not hear about this for a very long time.

Let me link here to amazing article by @CoatsandLinen & @aintacrow about how women once they are incarcerated on Rikers Island face often insurmountable obstacles to being released.

theappeal.org/why-are-women-…

What happened to Ms. Headley is everything that is wrong with the criminal justice system.

It is enraging & heartbreaking. It is at shocking, but extraordinary only in that it is so public.

This happens in spaces rendered invisible all the time.

P.S. The other part of this, it is not entirely clear, but b/c of the acting in a manner injurious to a child charge, there is now almost certainly an order of protection in effect which would bar Ms. Headley from having contact w/ her child w/o going to family court.

Depending on the relative who now has custody of the child & Ms. Headley's living arrangements, once released from jail, she may now have nowhere to live, work or ability to see her child.

Clarification: Ms. Headley is remanded on Rikers Island due to a misdemeanor warrant out of New Jersey not because of bail having been set on this case.

However, Ms. Headley could have taken care of that warrant voluntarily herself out of jail. It is only being arrested on this case that means she is in jail b/c of it. When you are arrested & an out of state warrant drops you are almost always remanded.