A City Council pol claims one of his staffers was assaulted by contractors for a controversial new lithium-ion battery facility in Queens.
Councilman Phil Wong (D-30th District) called for an investigation after his staff member was allegedly assaulted twice this week at the construction site at 69th Place, near 65th Drive, in Middle Village.
“No contractor is above the law,” he railed.
Wong claimed his staffer, Bernie Chow, 59, was allegedly shoved to the ground by the president of GA Industries – a contractor for the controversial storage site owned by NineDot Energy – on Wednesday.
Chow had been filming the active job site as Department of Buildings workers were there to serve a “partial stop work order,” the councilman’s office said.
“The staffer was documenting activity from the public sidewalk,” and suffered a head injury as a result of the alleged attack, Wong said.
Chow returned the following day, and was allegedly shoved and tackled to the pavement by a different contractor at the site, in a shocking caught-on-video altercation, the councilman said.
The alleged attack left him with a head injury that he did not notice until about 20 minutes after the authorities left the scene. He then went to the hospital, where he was monitored overnight and has since been released, Wong’s office said.
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed investigations were ongoing into both of the incidents after cops received two harassment complaints. No arrests have been made.
“Ignoring Stop Work Orders and responding with intimidation and violence when public officials are performing oversight should never be tolerated,” Wong said in a statement.
The DOB shut down the project’s operations indefinitely after observing violations of the stop work order – and opened an investigation into the contractor, Wong claimed.
The City Council Union offered its support to Wong’s staffer in a statement Thursday.
“City Council staff work every day to support constituents. No one should face violence for doing their job. We’re wishing our colleague a full and speedy recovery,” it said.
GA Industries and the DOB didn’t return requests for comment.
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