Several 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.
A spokeswoman for the New York Police Department said that Mr. Ossé, 28, had been charged with obstructing governmental administration, a misdemeanor, and with two counts of disorderly conduct, a lesser offense. She said that multiple people were arrested in all, but declined to say how many or what charges they faced.
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 even 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.
The resident of the house where the protest took place, Carmella Charrington, was jailed from last Thursday until Tuesday, according to city records, on what Mr. Ossé’s office said were contempt charges connected to the eviction case.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday morning that Mr. Ossé was “rightly passionate about tackling the scourge of deed theft” and praised his activism on the issue. The mayor said he had not yet seen video footage of the arrest, but when told by a reporter that Mr. Ossé had been pushed to the ground and handcuffed, Mr. Mamdani said that information was “incredibly concerning to hear.”
A spokesman for Mr. Ossé, Saha Guerrero, called the police’s treatment of him “an unnecessary use of force.”
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 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 lawyer representing 227 Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.
Andy Newman has reported from the New York region for The Times for more than 30 years.
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