FIND THE LATEST NEWS UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
March 13-19, 2020
ALSO SERVING PROSPECT HEIGHTS, WINDSOR TERRACE, KENSINGTON, AND GOWANUS
OUTRAGED
Yeiny Sanz, the sister of Maria de los Angeles Pimental, speaks at a rally on Monday. Photo by Todd Maisel
Community blast feds following violent ICE arrest
BY BEN VERDE
Advocates and elected
officials are calling for the
federal government to release
an immigrant who
was violently arrested by
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers at her
place of work on Flatbush
Avenue on March 1.
In a video captured by
her coworker, ICE agents
can be seen throwing Maria
de los Angeles Pimental
to the ground and handcuffing
her after entering
the restaurant she works in
without a warrant and pepper
spraying her — a move
community leaders compared
to the “Gestapo” tactics
of Nazi Germany.
“This is not about ‘bad
hombres’ this is about Nazism,
this is about white supremacy,”
said Public Advocate
Juumane Williams
at a rally outside La Cabaña
on Flatbush Avenue,
where Pimental works and
was arrested. “I don’t want
to mince words on the Gestapo
police who are walking
around on our streets
kidnapping our neighbors.”
Community leaders further
blasted the agency for
entering the restaurant
without a judicial warrant
and not explaining what
was happening to Pimental
in Spanish before she was
arrested.
Family members of Pimental,
a mother of three
from the Dominican Republic
who arrived in America
last March, say they are
devastated by their situation.
“I wouldn’t wish this on
anyone else,” said her sister
Yeiny Sanz.
The violent arrest comes
in the midst of growing out-
Continued on page 14
City mulling
loading
zones in
Park Slope
BY BEN VERDE
The Department of Transportation
is seeking to roll
out its “neighborhood loading
zones” program in Park
Slope after pushback from
motorists forced the agency
to yank the zones in Clinton
Hill last summer.
The plan involves axing
a dozen parking spots along
Second and Third Streets
between Fourth and Eighth
avenues, giving trucks a
spot to pull into while also
supplying residential deliveries
and ride-share vehicles
a place to drop off safely,
instead of double parking or
idling in bike lanes.
The plan was passed
unanimously by Community
Board 6’s transportation
committee on March 6. The
chair of the committee, Eric
McClure, says the neighborhood
is suffering under the
weight of increased truck
traffic, and that anything
that will reduce congestion
is welcome.
“Everyone has seen firsthand
the proliferation of
deliveries in the community,
whether it’s the uptick
in people shopping online
or buying groceries from
Fresh Direct, the number
of delivery trucks in Community
Board 6 has grown
seemingly exponentially
in the past two years,” Mc-
Clure said.
The program is already
in effect in several neighborhoods
across the city
including Williamsburg,
but the last time the agency
tried to bring the program
Continued on page 14
Vol. 40 No. 11 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM