Four people were arrested Wednesday morning at a chaotic protest against deed theft in Brooklyn after gathering outside a brownstone in support of a woman who is fighting attempts to evict her from the home.
Among those arrested outside the house in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which the woman’s family owned for decades, was the local city councilman, Chi Ossé. He was wrestled to the ground by police officers and handcuffed as he lay facedown on the sidewalk, videos of the episode show. He was released later in the afternoon.
Mr. Ossé, 28, was charged with obstructing governmental administration, a misdemeanor, and with two counts of disorderly conduct, a lesser offense. Speaking outside the 79th Precinct station house after his release, he said he would file a “misconduct report” against the officers who “slammed me on the ground.” He said at least two other protesters had concussions stemming from the incident, and Mr. Ossé’s staff said that he was headed to a hospital to be checked for a possible concussion.
The Police Department said in a statement that Mr. Ossé was taken down “as is within guidelines for making an arrest” after he appeared to “flail his arms and hands to prevent officers from restraining him.” The other three people who were arrested were all charged with the same offenses as Mr. Ossé, the police said.
The house, on Jefferson Avenue, is the latest front in the ongoing struggle against deed theft, a practice in which scammers take ownership of homes through fraud, often by forging homeowners’ signatures or tricking them into signing over deeds by promising to take care of financial concerns like mortgages and unpaid utilities.
State officials said on Wednesday that the dispute over the Bedford-Stuyvesant house did not constitute deed theft.
Still, the practice has long been a concern in New York City, with thieves targeting older residents who have significant equity in homes they have owned for decades. State and city officials have sought to crack down on the practice.
The issue has become more urgent in recent years as neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant that are home to many Black residents have gentrified, sending property values soaring. Investors have snapped up homes, in some cases looking to sell them for a quick profit or rent them out at high costs, and Black longtime residents have been displaced.
The police said that law enforcement officers had gone to the house early Wednesday morning to execute a judge’s eviction order. When the officers arrived, they found protesters blocking the entrance of the building and called for the police.
Eventually, the police said, there were 30 protesters who disregarded “multiple verbal commands” to stop blocking the eviction. After two people were arrested — about 90 minutes into the protest — Mr. Ossé pushed past officers and began to block the gate himself, the police said.
The woman whose eviction was being sought, Carmella Charrington, was jailed at Rikers Island from last Thursday until Tuesday on civil contempt charges related to the dispute over ownership of the house, city officials said. “It was like a human cage,” Ms. Charrington, 54, said at an interview at her home.
She is embroiled in a complex battle over the house that also involves trying to protect her father from a conservatorship case that threatens his claim to the property. She said that Mr. Ossé had “been here since Day 1” trying to help her family and that he had told her Wednesday morning that he was going to “lay down and get locked up” if necessary.
Ms. Charrington and housing advocates have described her case as deed theft. But a voluminous amount of paperwork, and several court cases, paint a complicated picture.
The office of the attorney general, Letitia James, said on Wednesday that it had reviewed the facts and determined that Ms. Charrington’s case was not an example of deed theft. Instead, the office said, it appeared to be a property dispute that originated with competing claims by the former co-owners of the property, one of whom was Ms. Charrington’s father.
A conservator representing the father, Allman Charrington, received approval to sell the property, and city records show that the home was sold in January 2024 to a company called 227 Group L.L.C.
In July 2024, 227 Group filed an eviction case against Ms. Charrington and others who they said were occupying the second floor of the home without a lease.
Ms. Charrington has said in court papers that her family had owned the property for more than 60 years, and that 227 Group had “orchestrated a fake sale.” Housing advocates have rallied around Ms. Charrington, saying her case is an example of how investors and other predatory landlords deceive Black families out of their wealth.
In a statement, Grant Fox, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, called the videos of Mr. Ossé’s arrest “deeply disturbing.”
“Over the past year, the Office of the Attorney General has been in contact with Ms. Charrington to offer guidance and advice, and we will continue to work with community leaders and advocates to stop deed theft and keep New Yorkers in their homes,” Mr. Fox said.
Mr. Ossé said on Wednesday evening that “some are using a more narrow definition of deed theft,” while he was using a more expansive definition that included “taking deeds through conservatorships and unclear chains of custody.”
Mr. Ossé, a Democrat, and housing activists have called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to issue a moratorium on evictions in which deed theft is suspected. In a letter to Ms. Hochul in February, Mr. Ossé and several other Council members said the city had received 3,500 complaints related to deed theft between 2014 and 2023.
“While scammers continue to prey on vulnerable homeowners, our city lacks the necessary resources to prevent, investigate, and prosecute crimes of deed theft,” the letter reads.
On April 6, 227 Group filed a notice that it planned to evict Ms. Charrington in 14 days. A spokesman for 227 Group said in a statement on Wednesday that “the allegation of deed theft is unequivocally false and anyone advancing this narrative is completely misinformed.” The company bought the property after “extensive negotiations with attorneys of all parties,” he said, adding that housing court had denied Ms. Charrington’s attempts to block her eviction “numerous times” and that two New York State judges had ruled that 227 Group was the house’s rightful owner.
In a social media statement on Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani called Mr. Ossé “a leader in his community and a partner in building a safer and more affordable New York City.” The mayor said the footage of the councilman’s arrest was “concerning” and that he was in touch with Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch about “the nature of the arrest.”
Christopher Marte and Julie Won, the leaders of the City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian caucus, said in a statement on Wednesday that the caucus was “outraged” by Mr. Ossé’s arrest and that his protest was peaceful.
“At a time when families are fighting to stay in their homes, the priority should be protecting vulnerable New Yorkers and holding exploitative actors accountable, not arresting an elected official for standing in solidarity with his constituents,” the statement said.
Jeffery C. Mays and Wesley Parnell contributed reporting.