Accused Of Harassing Seniors, 13-Year-Olds Arrested In Seth Low Park

A dramatic scene unfolded at Seth Low Park Friday when two 13-year-old boys, accused of throwing rocks and spitting at seniors that congregate near the picnic tables, were arrested.

A crowd looked on as officers rebuked the Seth Low Intermediate School students, handcuffed them, and hauled them into a police cruiser on May 1, at approximately 4:30pm.

The 62nd Precinct’s Captain William Taylor, who has expressed concern over reports of unruly teens harassing Asian-owned shops on Bay Parkway, responded to the complaint himself along with a team of plainclothes and uniformed officers.

“You think they’re cute?” Taylor said. “These are the Bay Parkway menaces.”

The trouble began at around 2:30pm, when witnesses said two middle schoolers started spitting and throwing rocks at the seniors, who are Chinese immigrants and do not speak English. When one man tried to take a photo of the boys, he told Taylor (through a translator) that one youth hit him and tried to snatch away his phone.

The man showed Taylor a photo of the boy and the captain ordered a group of cops to scour the area for the boys. Within minutes, the cops escorted two middle-schoolers back to the playground.

“You told me to stay away from the stores on Bay Parkway, not the playground,” one of the boys protested to cops.

A crowd formed as Taylor ordered officers to cuff the boys and file a juvenile report. Two squad cars then pulled onto the sidewalk and the boys were taken away.

Though several groups of seniors meet in the park, Chinese immigrants say they are being singled out by the playground bullies.

“We want to know, why do they bother us and not them?” one man told Bensonhurst Bean. “Are Chinese people not welcome here?”

Assemblyman William Colton, who was one of the first officials on the scene and present for the arrest, praised Taylor for his swift response to the complaints.

“I think we are very fortunate to have a very responsive precinct. Where else do you have a captain that responds themselves? If you allow this to happen with young children it becomes a problem when they’re older. Seniors feel very threatened by young people. It’s posing a threat to businesses of store owners. It’s something we need to put a stop to early on. It can’t be ignored,” the assemblyman said.

Several Bay Parkway merchants — who came to the park to help translate and notified Bensonhurst Bean of the incident — recognized one of the boys as the youngest member of a group of teens who have been mobbing their stores multiple times a day. The youths, who range in age from 13 to 18, have allegedly been stealing food, destroying property, and shaking people down for money, according to store owners. At a meeting last week, cops met with merchants and promised to make contact with the teens and their parents and warn them to stay off of the commercial strip.

After Friday’s arrests, high school students lingered at the park looking uneasy.

“He does things to look cool. Every day it’s a different story with that kid,” said Mark, 16, who said he graduated from Seth Low and knew of the alleged troublemaker.

Katherine Man, who owns a dry cleaning business on Bay Parkway and who has been a victim of the teens’ alleged antics, said she regrets that it has had to come to an arrest, but that action needed to be taken.

“They haven’t hurt anyone,” Man said. “They just need guidance.”

Taylor said two other teens were arrested Thursday in connection to the Bay Parkway incidents, but did not elaborate on the charges.