A bombshell report on a controversial showdown has found that former Adams advisor Tim Pearson shoved two migrant shelter security guards, cursed at them and then gave a “false” account of what happened to responding officers, causing the guards to be arrested.
The report, released Thursday by the Department of Investigation, paints a damning picture of Pearson’s actions as he arrived at a since-shuttered migrant shelter on W. 31st St. in Manhattan for an inspection on Oct. 17, 2023.
A DOI spokeswoman didn’t immediately say whether the agency will refer Pearson — who resigned last year after he was sued over alleged sexual harassment and ensnared in a federal corruption investigation — for prosecution.
After allegedly getting into a fight with a group of security guards inside a Manhattan migrant shelter last year, Tim Pearson, a top public safety adviser to Mayor Adams, was confronted by one of them outside the facility even as NYPD officers arrived to diffuse the situation, surveillance footage obtained by the Daily News shows.
Jason Steinberger, a lawyer for the two shelter security guards, said the city should hold all employees “accountable” if they’re “found by objective and credible evidence to have compromised their integrity by way of making false statements or reports.” The guards are suing Pearson over alleged civil rights violations.
“I trust that the Office of the New York County District Attorney will investigate the matter and pursue whichever course of action they deem appropriate,” Steinberger told the Daily News.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office didn’t immediately return request for comment, and neither did a lawyer for Pearson. Adams’ office did not immediately respond.,
DOI’s report notes its investigators tried “several times,” by mail, email and via counsel, to question Pearson about the incident, but that he never responded.
In the 13-page report, DOI noted that Pearson, a longtime friend to Adams who served as his top public safety adviser, refused to present identification at the migrant shelter for an inspection of fire sprinkler system. The shelter guards on site were acting according to city protocol in requiring all visitors to show ID, the report states.
Citing interviews with responding officers and shelter guards as well as body cam footage, DOI concluded Pearson turned “verbally abusive and physically aggressive” and “initiated” a physical melee almost immediately after the guards requested ID from him.
“I don’t have to identify myself,” Pearson barked at the guards, according to the report. “Get the f–k out of my way.”
Pearson then pushed Terence Rosenthal, one of the Arrow Security guards suing him, and tried to push his way into the shelter, housed in an old Touro College facility, according to DOI.
At that point, Leesha Bell, a security supervisor who’s also suing Pearson, stepped in and explained he needed to present ID in order to access the building.
“Get the f–k out of my face,” Pearson allegedly shouted at Bell before telling her and other guards he was “going to have [their] jobs,” DOI found.
When Bell continued to block him, Pearson, according to an account she provided to DOI, wrapped both hands around her neck and shoved her, causing her to fall backwards onto a counter with such force that her eyeglasses flew off her face. Bell repeated the same allegations to responding officers, the report states.
After he pushed Bell, a large group of guards surrounded Pearson and forced him out of the building, according to DOI.
At that point, Pearson told a different story to responding cops, DOI alleged. After being escorted out of the shelter, Pearson, a retired NYPD inspector, went over to officers seated in a nearby police vehicle and demanded they call in a “10-85,” law enforcement code for backup.
Body cam footage cited by DOI reveals one of the officers then asked if Pearson was “active” to understand if he was a member of the NYPD. “Yeah!” Pearson replied – though he was not, according to the report.
Minutes later, seven NYPD units with 19 officers were on the scene.
Speaking to other officers in a conversation also caught on body cam, Pearson claimed shelter guards “started attacking me” when he showed up at the site.
“The young lady that was getting in my face and started pushing on me…I’m gonna have ‘em collared,” Pearson told cops in remarks caught on footage.
“I want the inspector down here now,” Pearson continued. “Everybody will be out of a job tomorrow. I was going to keep the center open, we’re gonna close it now for sure. I’m going to make sure not one of those damn Arrow people stay here.”
The local precinct inspector then showed up on the scene and after another conversation with Pearson — caught on surveillance footage first reported by The News last year — they ordered the arrests of Bell and Rosenthal, according to DOI. The two guards were cuffed and taken to the local precinct and later released after the Manhattan DA’s office declined to pursue charges.
DOI concluded the information Pearson provided the NYPD resulting in the guards’ arrests was “false.”
The agency also wrote Pearson’s driver, NYPD Det. Joseph Rafaelle, made claims about the incident to DOI investigators that were “inconsistent with that of other eyewitnesses, raising further questions about his recollection and credibility.”
“[Pearson’s] conduct, as evidenced by witness statements and Body Worn Camera footage that DOI reviewed, fell far below our most basic expectations for public servants,” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement about her agency’s findings.
With Graham Rayman