Police arrested her after she tried getting help for her son. Now she wants to hold them accountable.
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Peggy Herrera was tearful as she described her arrest and the 103rd Precinct’s alleged treatment of her son, Justin. Eagle photos by Jonathan Sperling.
By Jonathan Sperling
Peggy Herrera’s son Justin, 21, sometimes experiences emotional problems. Herrera doesn’t go into detail, but notes that he’s “faced much trauma.”
As a former school crossing guard with the 103rd Precinct, Herrera is familiar with the police, as well as the precinct itself, which patrols parts of Southeast Queens.
So when Herrera, a leader with the #CloseRikers campaign, called 911 on Aug. 25 seeking professional medical help for Justin, all she expected was some assistance with de-escalating the mental health crisis that Justin was experiencing at the time.
What Herrera got, however, was a night in a cell. The police arrested her and she was charged with a misdemeanor. She was taken to the 103rd Precinct stationhouse, transported to Queens County Central Booking in Kew Gardens and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court.
Herrera says that by the time 103rd Precinct officers responded to her first-floor apartment, Justin had “calmed down,” so she felt there was no need for the cops to go inside.
“They saw him, they saw he was fine. I told them they can’t break my door, he’s not a criminal, he’s an EDP [emotionally disturbed person]. I said ‘Please don’t break my door, I’ve got to pay for that,’” Herrera told the Eagle.
Members of VOCAL-NY, #Closerikers and Black Lives Matter spoke in support of Herrera.
Officers came in anyways, Herrera says, and arrested her. She was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor, and released on her own recognizance on Aug. 26. After Herrera was arrested, police allegedly grabbed Justin by his neck and dragged him out of the apartment.
“They threw me to the floor, arrested me. When my son heard what was happening, he opened the door. They grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down and beat him up. When I asked ‘why are you arresting me,’ he said ‘Because your son, EDP, spit at me and you don’t listen,’” Herrera said at a demonstration outside of the 103rd Precinct Friday.
Herrera stood surrounded by other #CloseRikers members and members of VOCAL-NY, blasting the NYPD for what she said is a continuous mishandling of incidents involving emotionally disturbed persons, or EDPs.
“They showed up on my doorstep, now I’m here on their doorstep,” Herrera said from behind a police barricade that had been setup across the street from the precinct. “It’s funny how now they barricade me out, but they insisted on coming in my house when they had no right.”
Herrera went on to list a series of demands aimed at stopping police from being first responders to mental health crises. Herrera and other members of #CloseRikers also demanded to meet with the 103rd Precinct captain by Sept. 30.
The 103rd Precinct patrols a large swath of Southeast Queens.
“I’m demanding that you not be first responders. I’m demanding that you stop policing our neighborhoods and start having more compassion. You’re not trained to deal with mental illness. You’re not. I did not deserve to be treated that way,” Herrera said.
Between chants of “No Justice, No Peace,” the demonstrators promised future acts of civil disobedience if their demands were not met.
There were 31,701 EDP calls made across Queens last year, compared to 23,185 in 2014. The 103rd Precinct responded to 3,062 EDP calls in 2018 compared to 2,339 in 2014, according to data obtained by THE CITY.
Queens’ 105th Precinct has the highest number of 911 calls for Emotionally Disturbed Persons out of any precinct in the borough — 3,658 or about 10 EDP calls per day.
The term EDP describes a wide range of behaviors that could signal that a person has a mental illness, though not all EDP calls involve an individual with a mental illness.
