UPDATE 5/25/2021: A gathering and march is being held on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 to march against the actions of the MTA Police. Details here.

According to a witness, a man was tasered several times on Main Street in Beacon by MTA Police Officers on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, after he allegedly harassed a woman or women on the train platform down at Beacon’s MTA train station. The MTA Police Officers are separate from the City of Beacon’s Police Department.

During the scene, a MTA Police Officer told a person who witnessed the incident that the man they apprehended has a long history of arrests and is mentally ill. According to Officer Reynolds with the the Beacon Police on May 24, 2021, their department was not called about the man the MTA Police pursued and arrested.

Recently, the City of Beacon hired a Police Officer who specializes in mental health, Lashaveous Dicker, a full-time mental health intensive care manager, who is also an employee with Mental Health America of Dutchess County. He assists Beacon officers on calls relating to mental health issues and substance addiction, and has been introduced to the public during City Council Meetings.

UPDATE 5/25/2021: MTA Media Relations has confirmed to A Little Beacon Blog that the incident first started on the platform at the train, and that a MTA Police Officer patrolling the platform saw a Black man described to be in his 20s behaving erratically and was shouting curse words. The young man then left. After the man left, a pair of women reported to the MTA Police Officer that the man had been threatening them and cursing. Once those threats were made clear to the officer, the officer informed his department by putting it over the wire. Roughly 20 minutes later, a pair of other officers responded to the incident. It is at that time, according to MTA Media Relations, that is where the officers sought to detain the man on Main Street, that is when he resisted arrest, and the taser came out.

The witness on Main Street during the tasering incident said that the officers pressed the man up against a storefront “window so hard, I thought they were going to break it,” the witness told A Little Beacon Blog. “The officer said the man was resisting arrest, but they had him in a hold. The other cop told the man: ‘I’m going to taser you’ like 3 times. And they did. Several times, and he screamed. They continued to taser him after they had him down. I yelled at them to stop. There were caps all over the place. A cop cleaned up some after. I didn’t know what he was doing. They sent someone back later to collect all the caps.”

The person who reached out to A Little Beacon Blog with this information elaborated: “It was quite a scene. Main Street was frozen; stand still for at least 5-10 minutes. At least 3 others were filming with 2 on the street 1 person in a car.”

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the MTA Police to confirm the incident, and were referred to the MTA’s Press Office, which handles all of the media relations for any question from any MTA location. Police Officers work for the MTA Police in Beacon are not listed on the MTA Police website, including the name of their Police Captain. When A Little Beacon Blog called the MTA Media Relations to inquire, they said they would seek information to confirm details, and needed to confirm how jurisdiction works (ie train station vs Main Street, and if there even are boundaries of jurisdiction), and asked for time to do some digging to find the answers. They have since responded within one day!

UPDATE 5/25/2021: MTA Media Relations has responded with several answers to questions, which have been updated to this article.

At A Little Beacon Blog’s request, Detective Stewart with the MTA Police who answered the phone at the Beacon MTA Police Headquarters, provided the MTA Police Captain’s name as Captain Charles Pisinelli. Detective Stewart said that all questions seeking confirmation needed to go through the MTA Media Relations Office. When asked for the phone number, Detective Stewart stated that only Captain Pisinelli could give it, who was unavailable, but Detective Stewart called back to provide the number to MTA Media Relations. Which is appreciated, since the Media Relations office is quite large, so any point of entry to pursue confirmation is helpful, even though they do have a website.

After the witness saw the taser incident, the witness called Beacon’s Councilmember Terry Nelson, who represents Ward 1, where the apprehension took place. The witness also called Beacon’s Human Rights Commission. What happened after the call to the Human Rights Commission? “It was just a voice mailbox No one has called me back.”

UPDATE 5/25/2021: The Human Rights Commission has since called the Beacon bystander back, saying they have had problems with the phone. These details seem mundane, but it is common in Beacon for inquiries to go unanswered from time to time.

A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to MTA Media Relations representative. Should we hear back, we will update this article. UPDATE 5/25/2021: We have heard back from MTA Media Relations! And this article updated where necessary.

• Do the MTA Police have jurisdiction to pursue someone from the train station up from the train into Beacon? To pursue a person from the platform, the person would need to run down the platform, down the stairs from the platform, then up the stairs to the parking lot, then up through the parking lot and up the long steep and curving hill from the train station, cross the busy street of Wolcott Avenue, run past the Beacon Police station, and then run up to Main Street storefronts, where the man was apprehended.
  ANSWER: Yes. According to MTA Media Relations, the MTA Police have jurisdiction over the region, which includes Long Island, Hamptons, Westchester, and more. In this case, an officer patrolling the platform informed his department, and two other officers in a car apprehended the young man by the time he was on Main Street.

• Was the man apprehended charged with anything?
  ANSWER: Yes. According to MTA Media Relations, the man was charged with:
  - Aggravated harassment
  - Menacing in the 3rd Degree
  - Resisting arrest.

• How many times was he tasered?

• Where did the man go after being brought to wherever he was brought to?
  ANSWER: According to MTA Media Relations, the man was brought to the hospital after being tasered, to see if he was fit enough for discharge. He was processed at the MTA Police District 7 on Beekman Street, and given an appearance ticket to court, and was released.

• Where do people go when apprehended by the MTA Police?
  ANSWER: According to MTA Media Relations, they go to the MTA Police District 7 on Beekman Street in Beacon.

• How many MTA Police are there, and what are their job titles? Like, a Police Chief, Officer, Detective?
  ANSWER: According to MTA Media Relations, there are about 30 officers at District 7. They patrol a large area up and down the Hudson River line, not just in Beacon. Beacon happens to be the town in which the barracks are based.

• Can you tell me the names of the officers who pursued him, and who made the arrest?

• Can you confirm how the MTA Police were alerted to the issue?
  ANSWER: According to MTA Media Relations, an officer patrolling the platform first saw activity, and then was complained to by a pair of women, and then notified his department. Two other officers went out to find the man.