Gov. Kathy Hochul is condemning the conduct of a federal immigration agent who is seen pepper-spraying a woman in the face during a street encounter in New York City that was recorded and shared on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is above the law,\u201d Hochul said in a social media post in which she called the<\/a> incident \u201coutrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n Hochul said encounters like the one filmed near the Convent of the Good Shepherd, at Isham Street and Seaman Avenue in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, was the very reason she recently signed into law<\/a> a bill that would allow New Yorkers to sue federal officials who \u201cabuse their authority\u201d and violate their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n In a statement on Tuesday, an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson defended the action of the agent seen deploying pepper spray in the July 30 encounter. The statement alleged that officers were surrounded by an \u201cunruly, combative, and verbally assaultive crowd\u201d that surrounded officers and refused to move out of the way, and that officers then resorted to \u201cappropriate\u201d measures.<\/p>\n Linda Wolff, 72, who lives in Hell\u2019s Kitchen, told Gothamist that she was the woman being pepper-sprayed in the video. Wolff said she never touched the officers or acted physically aggressively toward them.<\/p>\n