The Manhattan District Attorney’s office dropped obstruction and harassment charges against a guard at a migrant shelter arrested following a scuffle allegedly set off by Tim Pearson, a top advisor to Mayor Eric Adams.
In Manhattan Criminal court Friday afternoon, an assistant district attorney said that after interviewing a dozen witnesses and reviewing body-worn camera and security footage, prosecutors could not prove the charges against guard Terrence Rosenthal beyond a reasonable doubt.
A lawyer for Rosenthal, Amber Joyner of the Legal Aid Society, issued a statement stressing Pearson’s role in last week’s incident.
“Terrence Rosenthal was simply performing his job and following procedure as a security guard when Tim Pearson irrationally and aggressively demanded entry to a respite center for new arrivals in Manhattan,” said Joyner.
The charges had stemmed from an encounter with Pearson, who Adam has deputized as his “quality assurance person,” making unannounced visits to migrant shelters across the city while overseeing their security and making sure they keep costs down.
But while visiting a large shelter in Midtown that has since been closed for fire code violations, Pearson refused to present staff with identification, threatened to get them fired and rushed at them before shoving a female security guard according to 12 eyewitness statements, as first reported by THE CITY. Two guards, including Rosenthal, were arrested and charged immediately after that encounter.
THE CITY was also first to report on an earlier incident that day in which Pearson arrived at the 2,000-person migrant shelter on Randall’s Island with more than 100 police officers and demanded to be let in, threatening the jobs of the workers who’d asked him to produce for a warrant, as required by the city’s protocol.
Adams refused to answer questions about Pearson at an unrelated press conference Friday, and spokesperson Fabien Levy referred to the mayor’s comments on Tuesday, where Adams said the incident was under review. The mayor added about the scope of Pearson’a work: “this is what happens when you are dealing with a crisis of this magnitude.”
Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for Adams, had previously said that Pearson had presented identification at the Midtown shelter and was nonetheless “accosted” by the security guards there. In the original criminal complaint against Rosenthal, Pearson describes showing a shield and then being shoved.
The city’s Department of Investigation has since launched a probe into the incident, the New York Times reported.
Rosenthal, who spent a night in jail after his arrest, has hired a private attorney who on Thursday filed a notice of claim against Adams, Pearson and the NYPD, indicating his intent to sue the city for the ordeal.
Pearson, a former NYPD officer who served with Adams there, has come under law enforcement scrutiny in the past. In 2000, THE CITY reported this week, an NYPD judge found he had impeded an internal investigation of a 1996 domestic incident that he was allegedly involved in. Pearson was subsequently placed on the Bronx District Attorney’s list of cops with potential credibility issues.
