NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A homeless man who has been living in a makeshift treehouse in Manhattan’s Riverbank State Park hit a reporter with a large stick Monday morning as the city was preparing to evict him from the tree.
Residents said the man has been living for months high up in the treehouse, which is made of a blue tarp and other items.
After eviction notices were posted, members of the NYPD, Parks Department and Homeless Services arrived at the park Monday morning to figure out how to take down the man’s encampment off Riverside Drive in Hamilton Heights.
The man suddenly climbed down around 9:30 a.m., walked up an embankment to Riverside Drive and started yelling at Kevin Sheehan, a reporter from the New York Post, for taking a photo of him. He asked Sheehan, “Why you take the picture of me every day? Please tell me, why?”
The man was swinging a four-foot-long stick at the time and allegedly began hitting Sheehan with it.
NYPD officers got out of their vehicle and chased the man, who ran across the street and swung a bag full of empty bottles and cans at a photographer.
Videos show the man walking up the embankment, swinging the bag at the photographer and being led away in handcuffs by police following his arrest.
Potential charges against him weren’t immediately known.
Officers talked with Sheehan and said he’d need to file a police report. Officers also hauled away the large stick as evidence.
Later in the morning, work crews from the Parks Department were seen taking down trees to remove the man's belongings.
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