A New York senator with a history of violence chased down a New York Post photographer Friday night, ending up in a tug of war with the photographer over the camera and tearing out the flash in the struggle, according to the Post.
Brooklyn state Sen. Kevin Parker was arrested on felony criminal mischief charges.
Senator Kevin Parker
The photographer, William C. Lopez, said the incident began after he snapped a photo of the senator stepping out of his car at his parent’s home in Flatbush.
Lopez was standing on a public street.
“I’m standing in the street, I took one photograph of him and he charged at me,” Lopez recalled.
“I turned around and ran and he was actually catching up to me. I turned a corner and ran half a block and he’s chasing me the entire way.”
Lopez said Parker then gave up the chase and instead turned his ire on Lopez’s vehicle, a 1998 Subaru Forester, going over to the SUV and sitting down on the hood.
Then, Lopez said, Parker tried to get into the Subaru — and that’s when the real violence began, according to the lensman.
“He reached in and grabbed my camera,” Lopez said. “We were having a tug of war with the camera. I slide into the passenger seat with him in tow. I pulled his entire body into my car except his leg.”
“He ripped the door panel off my car with his legs. He tore out my flash.”
Parker, a democrat, was accused last year of choking a staffer and smashing her glasses.
And in 2005, he was accused of punching a city traffic agent in the face.
Those charges were dropped after he attended anger management classes.
