Man arrested at NYPL Drag Story Hour after confronting protesters
A man who faced a group of anti-Drag Story Hour protesters at a Manhattan library on Saturday afternoon was arrested after allegedly getting into an argument with an officer overseeing the demonstration, police said.
A clip of the incident shows the man first facing off against the group of about 20 protesters who held up signs reading ‘Leave our children alone!’ ‘Close it now!’ and “Respect Childhood!” at the Midtown branch of the New York Public Library.
“Get out of here!” The man, identified by police as Chase Catapano, 28, yells at the group. “You are a disgrace!”
Catapano, left, confronts an NYPD officer overseeing the protest.
Behind the protest was a group called the Guardians of Divinity.
Catapano was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, attempted assault and obstructing government administration, police said.
Catapano, 28, told the group they were “a f-king disgrace!”
Manhattan’s Catapano snatches the sign from a protester and turns to walk away, but the group known as the Guardians of Divinity followed him. the footage shows.
A few yards away in the video, a woman can be seen leading a young child away from the profanity-laden incident.
The enraged Catapano then turns, only to be stopped by a member of the NYPD, as the clip shows.
Catapano is seen pushing the cop’s hand away from him and yelling, “I don’t give af-k who you are!”
“You better be careful who you touch, he’s an officer,” a man can be heard in the video.
The officer then grabs Catapano and escorts him away. Later in the video, Catapano appears to be struggling with officers who arrest him in the stairwell.
Catapano, who did not attend the Drag Story Hour or the protest, was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, attempted assault and obstructing government administration, police said.
One of the protesters said the group is proud to have ended Drag Story Hour early.
“They’re using our tax dollars to fund it,” the man said to the Twitter account NJEG Media. “As taxpayers, we have a right to say where our money goes. We went in there and protested the drag story and we ended it early. It was a great success.”
https://nypost.com/2022/12/10/man-arrested-at-nypl-drag-story-hour-after-confronting-protesters/ Man arrested at NYPL Drag Story Hour after confronting protesters
