On Wednesday, New York police disputed some details in a disturbing segment that aired the night before on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program that was filled with xenophobia.
NBC News reports:
New York City’s Guardian Angels tackled to the ground a man they claimed was a migrant who was caught shoplifting during a live TV interview, but they later said they have no proof of the claims … The encounter happened Tuesday as Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa was doing a live television interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity about migrant crime in New York City.
“Our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys right here on the corner of 42nd and 7th,” Sliwa said on air, “They’ve taken over!” As Hannity’s team filmed the attack, Sliwa kept mouthing off. “He had been shoplifting first, the Guardian Angels spotted him, stopped him, he resisted, and let’s just say we gave him a little pain compliance,” Sliwa told Hannity. “His mother back in Venezuela felt the vibrations.” Despite having no real evidence the man was a migrant, Sliwa went on to say, “These illegals think they own this street. They think they rule the night. This is our country.”
Sliwa has a history of fabricating crimes for political gain. And this ordeal, conveniently captured by Hannity’s film crew, happened to occur during a segment intended to stoke worries about migrant arrivals in New York City.
The next day, the NYPD told CNN the man was actually a 23-year-old from the Bronx who’d come to the U.S. as a 10-year-old. And while the police didn’t address the allegations of shoplifting, police did say they had given him a summons for disorderly conduct after he “repeatedly attempted to interfere with and disrupt a live interview.” A statement the NYPD gave to Fox News claimed the man was acting in a “loud, disorderly threatening manner.” Sliwa later told The Associated Press he thought the man was a migrant because the man spoke Spanish. To NBC News, Sliwa said…
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