Police footage captures chaotic migrant arrest at hotel shelter in New York
Police met with resistance while arresting migrant at hotel shelter in Yonkers, north of New York City. (Credit: Yonkers Police Department)
Police bodycam footage has captured the moment chaos erupted this week at a hotel migrant shelter north of New York City as officers trying to make an arrest were met with resistance.
Video released by the Yonkers Police Department begins with a caller telling a dispatcher that "guy's over here unruly" and "he's getting very violent with everybody" at a Ramada Inn in Yonkers.
"He's throwing stuff at everybody, please send somebody here right away," the caller demands.
The video then shows officers engaged in a struggle as they try to take a man into custody, identified by police as Arnal Kent, 35.
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Arnal Kent is shown being taken into custody on Tuesday, April 9 at a Ramada Inn where migrants are being sheltered in Yonkers, New York. (Yonkers Police Department)
At one point in the footage, when police were trying to put Kent into a squad vehicle, a woman, identified as Yainilet Hernandez, can be seen trying to prevent an officer from opening the cruiser’s door.
"Move out the way!" a voice is heard saying repeatedly over the shouts of a crowd that gathered to witness the arrest.
"After disobeying several attempts to move, Officers had to push Hernandez out of the way in order to open the door and safely detain Kent in the rear of the vehicle," police said in a statement. "Hernandez also attempted to pull Officers away from Kent in the process."
The bodycam footage later shows Hernandez being taken down to the ground by police and brought into custody herself.
"When Officers attempted to place Hernandez into handcuffs, she immediately pulled away from several Officers and attempted to strike multiple Officers with her hands," Yonkers Police said. "In this struggle, one Officer sustained injuries to his right knee and wrist and subsequently had to be placed off-duty."
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Yonkers Police say Yainilet Hernandez was trying to prevent Kent from being placed in a police vehicle. (Yonkers Police Department)
Kent, who has been released with an appearance ticket after being charged with menacing, disorderly conduct, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest, told Fox5NY he arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in the fall and alleged that hotel staff had been mistreating him and other migrants at the Ramada Inn location.
The NYC Department of Homeless Services has relocated around 250 migrants and children to the Yonkers Ramada Inn since May 2023, according to the Yonkers Police Department.
Other migrants told ABC7 that staff at the hotel have been entering their rooms without warning, saying that they need to remove unsafe appliances such as hot pots.
"My iron, my hair dryer, things for work have disappeared," one migrant said to the station, which reported that others have claimed that money and jewelry have been stolen.
Hernandez is being held on bail after being charged with assault, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest.
Hernandez is seen being taken into custody herself. (Yonkers Police Department)
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Ramada Inn and Westhab – an organization Yonkers Police say "provides full-time coverage of those housed at the location, including contracted security and terms on which their housing is provided" -- did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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