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At least 41 people were arrested at a formerly upscale Prohibition-era hotel turned migrant shelter earlier this year.
The string of arrests were made in May, most of which stemmed from domestic-violence incidents, law enforcement sources confirmed to the New York Post on Sunday (September 4). The earlier arrests surfaced hours after a 30-year-old migrant was arrested at the shelter for alleged child endangerment just prior to 9:00 p.m. Saturday (September 2). Police sources said the 11-year-old victim was the suspect's daughter.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office later declined to prosecute the 30-year-old, sources told the New York Post.
“After thorough investigation and review of the facts, the People declined to prosecute this matter,” a spokesperson for the Manhattan DA’s office said in a statement obtained by the New York Post. “If a crime cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it is our ethical duty not to charge it.”
Other arrests made at the shelter included an individual seeking asylum who was accused of bashing an employee at the facility in the head with a "No Parking" sign in June, which stemmed from an incident in which the worker threw him out of the building for being unruly, as well as a 20-year-old migrant woman allegedly slapping a police officer for attempting to confiscate her unregistered motorbike, which was parked in front of the Stratford Arms Hotel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The shelter worker was reported to have suffered a 6-inch gash on his head, which led to Mayor Eric Adams making an unannounced visit to the hotel to survey the incident personally.