Warning: Graphic language
A man who confronted a group of anti-Drag Story Hour protesters at a Manhattan library Saturday afternoon was arrested after allegedly getting into a tussle with an officer monitoring the demonstration, police said.
A clip of the incident shows the man first facing off against the group of about 20 protesters, who were holding signs reading, “Leave our kids alone!”, “Shut it down now!” and “Respect childhood!” at the Midtown branch of the New York Public Library.
“Get the f–k out of here!” the man, identified by police as Chase Catapano, 28, yells at the group. “You’re a f–king disgrace!”
Catapano, of Manhattan, rips the sign out of one protester’s hands and turns to walk away, but the group, known as the Guardians of Divinity, followed, the footage shows.
A few feet away, a woman can be seen in the video ushering a young child away from the profanity-laden incident.
The angry Catapano then turns back around only to be stopped by a member of the NYPD, the clip shows.
Catapano can be seen shoving the cop’s hand away from him and yelling “I don’t give a f–k who you are!”
“You better watch who you’re touching, he’s an officer,” a man can be heard shouting in the video.
The officer then grabs Catapano and escorts him away. Later in the video, Catapano appears to be struggling with officers arresting him in the stairwell.
Catapano, who was not a part of the Drag Story Hour nor the protest, was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, attempted assault and obstructing governmental administration, police said.
One of the demonstrators claimed the group shut down the Drag Story Hour event early.
“They’re using our taxpayer dollars to fund this,” the man told Twitter account NJEG Media. “As taxpayers, we have a right to say where our money goes. We went in there and we protest at the drag story and we shut it down early. It was a big success.”
The Drag Story Hour event continued and was not shut down by the incident, a New York Public Library spokeswoman said.
Catapano was arraigned Monday in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a judge set his bail at $4,500.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosner
