A singer who performs with the Harlem Gospel Choir has notified the city of her intent to sue, claiming she was falsely arrested her after she was harassed in November outside Trump Tower by a supporter of the newly elected President.
LennAsia Harvey, 21, of East Orange, N.J., claims she was leaving a choir gig at the Plaza Hotel with a fellow singer and heading toward the subway about 9:45 p.m. on Nov. 10.
As she and Shacara McLaurin, 23, passed two groups of competing protesters outside the President’s building on W. 57th St. and Fifth Ave., she claimed a Trump supporter began taunting her.
“He was saying things like ‘Why are you protesting? You don’t even know why you don’t like Trump,'” she said of a man she identified as James Durkan, 74, of Manhattan. “We weren’t even protesting. We were just walking to the subway.”
Durkan, who is white, trailed after them for more than a block and called them the n-word and “black b—–s,” she claimed.
“I was trying to ignore him, but my friend is very protective and he was getting aggravated,” said Harvey, who has performed with the choir at Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and elsewhere. “He targeted us because we were young, black and female.”
Durkan did not respond to requests for comment.
McLaurin confronted him and told him to back off and then pushed him when he drew too close to her, Harvey said.
Harvey alleges that Durkan fell to the ground with an Oscar-worthy performance. Durkan and other witnesses then reported the incident to police.
After cops arrived and interviewed all three, an NYPD supervisor said, “Lock them up,” Harvey said.
“I was asking them why they were arresting me and they are not answering me at all,” she said. “I was just like panicking. It was annoying. Period.”
Harvey said she was held for three hours before she was released without charge — with cops calling it a misunderstanding.
“I think due to the complete absence of probable cause to believe that my client had done anything illegal, the only explanation for my client’s false arrest is that she was arrested because she is black,” said her lawyer, Joe Stancati.
An NYPD spokeswoman countered that several witnesses reported that McLaurin pushed Durkan, leading to her arrest for assault.
“Harvey was temporarily detained based on allegations made by a complainant. She was removed from an ongoing demonstration. After a brief investigation it was determined that the complainant’s allegation were not credible. Her arrest was voided and she was released,” a police spokeswoman said.
The charges against McLaurin were dismissed by the Manhattan DA’s office, Stancati said.
A notice of claim, notifying the city of Harvey’s intent to sue, was filed on Feb. 8. Settlement discussions with the city controller’s office have since broken down, according to Harvey’s lawyer.
