María Falcon has been a street vendor in New York City for 14 years. During the summer she sells mangos and other fruit to commuters passing through Broadway Junction. During the winter, it’s churros. Late last month, Falcon was arrested by the NYPD as part of a crackdown of alleged quality-of-life violations by the [Eric] Adams administration. She was brought to the NYPD station in handcuffs, and then strip-searched, while all of her belongings were destroyed. She was released a few hours later with a summons.
“I would get hassled by the police, sometimes they would throw out all my products, but I had to fight for my daughters.”
Falcon says that she sells fruit in the subway station out of necessity. After a video of her arrest, taken by her daughter, went viral over the weekend, Mayor Adams told reporters that New Yorkers must “follow the rules,” and that
