An ongoing struggle to maintain a Brooklyn grandmother in her household dwelling escalated on Wednesday morning when the police arrested Councilmember Chi Ossé as he protested the transfer.
Ossé (D-Brooklyn) was in entrance of the Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone with group supporters to forestall longtime resident Carmella Charrington from being evicted when officers from the New York Police Division pulled the Council member to the bottom and cuffed him, face down, video reveals.
New York Metropolis marshals have been on the dwelling to evict Charrington and to search for her father, who’s underneath a conservatorship within the state of Georgia. Over two dozen protestors have been additionally on the scene. The marshals known as the NYPD for backup, because the protestors have been blocking entry to the home, and ended up making 4 arrests, together with Ossé, in line with an NYPD spokesperson.
NYPD officers took Ossé to the native precinct, in line with a press release from his workplace, and launched him within the early afternoon. He was taken to a neighborhood hospital for analysis shortly afterwards. Ossé and people arrested have been charged with obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct, NYPD stated.
Charrington spoke with THE CITY Wednesday on the brownstone, simply after she stated she spent 5 days on Rikers Island, held in contempt for the conservatorship case involving her father and linked to the property.
“I swear I feel like I’m in ‘Get Out,’” she stated, referring to the 2017 horror movie. If she and her household lose the home, she stated: “It’d be devastating. It’s four generations of irreparable harm.”
Charrington’s son, William McFadden, stated his 6-year-old daughter was rattled by the police motion taken Wednesday. McFadden, the daughter and his 7-month-old son have been among the many relations within the dwelling when the police, marshals and members of the sheriff’s workplace arrived.
“No child should have to ask, ‘Daddy, why are they taking our house right now? Daddy, why are they changing the locks?’” McFadden stated.
Councilmember Chi Ossé being moved into an ambulance and brought to a neighborhood hospital after his arrest in Bedford-Stuyvesant, April 22, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The household and their allies, together with Ossé, are adamant the state of affairs is deed theft. However officers and data level to a extra sophisticated story.
Charrington’s dwelling on a tree-lined block of Jefferson Avenue has been the topic of a fraught saga that goes again a number of years. Charrington stated her household has owned the house for many years, however an LLC that claims to have bought the house has tried to evict her for the previous two years.
Talking exterior the Bedford-Stuyvesant precinct the place he was held and earlier than he went to the hospital, Ossé stated it was a “very violent, fast, traumatic experience.”
“I was just there to stand for my neighbor who I didn’t want to see her and her family removed from her home,” Ossé stated exterior the precinct. “To be met with violence from the NYPD for doing my job has been really disheartening and truly traumatic.”
He stated he would file a misconduct report, and he advocated for assets and funds to assist householders struggle deed theft.
Deed theft — made by schemes associated to cast paperwork, short-sale, foreclosure-rescue scams and different mechanisms — can strip households of generational wealth, separating them from a worthwhile asset.
The household dwelling on Jefferson Avenue Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The workplace of Lawyer Normal Letitia James additionally indicated it had decided in April 2025 that the state of affairs at Charrington’s dwelling was not a deed theft matter, however as an alternative a property dispute owing to competing claims from the property’s former homeowners, together with Charrington’s father.
In a social media put up, James stated her workplace has “been in contact with the resident of this home for over a year to offer guidance and advice on her legal battle.”
The historical past of the property is complicated.
In 2021, an organization known as Brooklyn Gates LLC signed an settlement with a member of the family who had a stake within the property at 212 Jefferson Ave.
Brooklyn Gates LLC was run by brothers Elliot and Joseph Ambalo and their associate Etai Vardi, whose dealings THE CITY uncovered in a earlier investigation. The trio was among the many teams of speculators concentrating on properties in gentrifying, traditionally Black and Latino neighborhoods whose homeowners died and left a community of dispersed inheritors. The three males would purchase partial deeds from the heirs — typically properly beneath the worth of the multi-million-dollar properties — and leverage their new partial possession to pressure out longtime residents.
By 2023, the LLC had terminated the settlement with the one who claimed to have a stake within the property. Vardi informed THE CITY he canceled the contract as a result of he didn’t wish to tackle such a dangerous matter. “We saw it’s very complicated with the family. Not for us. It’s too much problems,” he stated.
In 2024, one other firm known as 227 Group LLC bought the house for $1.4 million from a number of alleged relations as a part of an property of the previous proprietor. Some property data present 227 Group LLC and Brooklyn Gates LLC share the identical tackle in Lengthy Island Metropolis. Vardi chalked up that element to a paperwork mistake, and emphasised his group just isn’t concerned with the property.
An agent behind 227 Group LLC, Simon Blitz, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark and one other, Daniel Gazal, couldn’t be reached.
What’s in dispute has to do with whether or not these relations and the property had the authority to promote the property to 227 Group LLC.
Allman Charrington, Carmella’s father, is in a conservatorship based mostly in Georgia. A conservator is appointed to handle the funds, belongings and property of a “ward” who just isn’t competent to handle these affairs.
Georgia legal professional Luanne Bonnie, who’s listed as Allman’s conservator on property data, signed the deed on his behalf. Carmella and different relations have stated the individuals who signed the deed over to 227 Group LLC didn’t have the best to do this. (Bonnie didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.)
A more moderen deed, from January 2026, reveals Allman Charrington transferring the property to Carmella, his daughter.
A decide despatched Charrington to Rikers Island on April 16 after she didn’t convey her father to court docket as a part of a case associated to the conservatorship. Charrington and her household on the brownstone had been caring for him, they stated. Town sheriff’s workplace and marshals who went to the house this morning had been in search of the daddy.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who made combating deed theft a precedence in his mayoral marketing campaign, on Wednesday morning had not seen the video of Ossé’s arrest, however responded when a reporter described it to him.
“That’s exactly something that we’re going to follow up on, not just on the nature of this arrest, but also what was the underlying issue that was being protested,” Mamdani stated at an unrelated occasion in Queens. “I know [Ossé’s] been on the front lines of fighting deed theft. It’s especially prevalent in his Council district, and I appreciate, frankly, the efforts that he’s led in the past on ensuring that this is front of mind for all of us.”
Mamdani later posted to social media saying he had “seen the concerning footage of Council Member Chi Ossé’s arrest earlier today and am in touch with [NYPD] Commissioner Tisch about the nature of the arrest.”
Extra reporting from Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Katie Honan.
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