A homeless “squirrel” man who has been nesting in a Manhattan park tree for months was busted Monday for attacking a Submit reporter with an enormous department and whacking a photographer with a trash bag stuffed along with his belongings, in line with cops and video.
The unprovoked assault unfolded proper in entrance of NYPD officers and metropolis parks officers who had been there to “evict” the vagrant from his unlawful makeshift treehouse in Riverbank State Park.
The suspect, recognized by cops as Rewell Altunaga, 44, was caught on digicam climbing down from his tree perch and clambering up an embankment to go after the Submit reporter simply earlier than 10 a.m.
He bashed the reporter, who was standing on the sidewalk, with a department twice — touchdown one hit on the facet of the sufferer’s head.
Altunaga was then filmed taking off towards 147th Avenue after a number of cops let him stroll by them. Cops lastly cuffed him after he additionally beat the Submit photographer with a black rubbish bag and smashed his digicam into the bottom.
The suspect was charged with assault and felony mischief, police stated.
The weird ordeal got here a day after metropolis officers issued a one-day “discover of unpolluted up” for the part of the park the place the person’s sky-high digs had been positioned.
Parks workers arrived early Monday armed with chainsaws and heavy equipment to tear down the person’s makeshift dwelling.
Earlier than the scene descended into chaos, cops confirmed to The Submit that they had been referred to as in to evict him.
After greater than an hour, a parks supervisor stated staff had reduce down 4 timber surrounding the person’s dwelling quarters — however that they had been unable to fully take away the shelter as a result of they wanted entry to the adjoining Amtrak prepare line.
“They should shut [the train line] down, after which … [cherry-picker] vehicles could be placed on the tracks” to complete the dismantling job, the supervisor informed The Submit. “I hope it’s quickly. I don’t wish to see him again up there.”
Metropolis motion to take away the months-old encampment got here after The Submit confirmed Mayor Eric Adams a photograph of the scene throughout an unrelated occasion Saturday.
“That’s not what we would like,” Hizzoner stated. “That’s not dignified for folks.”
The mayor later vowed to begin dismantling homeless encampments on metropolis streets, saying his initiative would contain the Division of Homeless Providers.
“Proper now individuals are dwelling in inhumane circumstances. They’re dwelling beneath cardboards, they’re dwelling on highways,” Adams stated at an occasion within the Bronx. “They’re dwelling in prepare tracks the place the electrical energy is extraordinarily harmful.”
He stated groups made up of mental-health professionals and homeless companies would exit and put up notices giving folks within the encampments 24 to 48 hours to maneuver off the streets.
“After 24 to 48 hours, we're going to take down the encampment,” Adams stated, including that individuals would later be capable to retrieve their private objects from an undisclosed location.
“Persons are not going to dwell in makeshift, harmful housing. We should always have by no means allowed that to occur.”
The mayor’s workplace stated Monday that 150 encampments will likely be focused in a two-week operation that started March 18.
“This effort is about caring for our folks and our public area,” Adams Instructed the Submit. “We're breaking down silos and dealing collectively throughout authorities to maintain New Yorkers secure and our streets clear.”
Heriberto Medina Jr,, 41 — who informed The Submit he has spent two years dwelling beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — had his blue tent dragged away by three sanitation staff Monday afternoon. He stated he was left along with his bike, a pair of backpacks and white Fila sneakers.
Medina, who had been dwelling in his tent on the border of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, stated Adams’ assertion about dwelling in shelters being safer than on the road is “an absolute lie.
“I bought my head cracked. Somebody stole my cellphone,” he stated of his time in an East New York shelter in 2018. “It’s a nightmare. I’ve been in quite a few shelters. It’s like folks bidding. It’s like they’re in jail. You’ve bought folks claiming stuff.”
Medina stated he doesn’t know the place he'll sleep tonight however added that he received’t go indoors except he's alone. He has a voucher to get housing when it turns into obtainable however “doesn’t know why it’s taking so lengthy.
“When the crime charge goes up … the primary folks they aim are the homeless,” he stated of criminals. “You’re kicking us whereas we're already down. We're at all times going to be weak.”
Extra reporting by Steven Vago, Nolan Hicks and Sam Raskin
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