WATCH: Sunny Hostin Invokes Harvard, Prosecutor Past During Son’s Trespassing Stop
New police body camera footage shows a tense exchange involving “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin after her son, Gabriel Hostin, was stopped by officers in New Rochelle, New York.
The footage, dated June 16, shows Gabriel being detained after police said he was jogging on MTA tracks. Officers treated the matter as trespassing and later issued him a citation.
Gabriel told police that “the gate was open.” According to TMZ, police also released photos of no trespassing signs that they said were posted in the area.
During the stop, Gabriel called his mother and told her what was happening. “This cop is putting handcuffs on me,” he said on the phone. He also told officers, “My mom’s a lawyer, by the way,” before asking for the officer’s name and badge number.
One officer explained why the stop was being taken seriously. “This is considered trespassing; it’s criminal trespass. The reason why it’s such a big deal, people get hit by a train all the time. We want to prevent it, obviously,” the officer said.
Sunny Hostin could then be heard on the phone telling her son, “Tell them your mother is a federal prosecutor.” She later spoke directly with police and said, “I’m a former federal prosecutor; that’s my son, he’s a Harvard graduate.”
The New York Post previously reported that Hostin also referenced her television role during the incident. “I am Sunny Hostin, I am on ‘The View,’” she said, according to sources cited by the outlet.
Officers told Hostin they were not charging her son with a misdemeanor. Instead, they said they were issuing a lower-level citation because he had been cooperative and had no record.
That did not appear to satisfy Hostin. “Officer, is that really necessary? This is a kid that doesn’t do anything. He’s a Harvard graduate and a Yale researcher! He teaches geometry to fourth graders in the Bronx,” she said.
When she asked, “Why would you put something on his record like this?” an officer responded that the matter was being reduced. “It’s not anything criminal. He just has to appear. I’m dumbing it down to a violation. That’s all it is. So, it’s not a misdemeanor,” the officer said.
The officer also pushed back as Hostin continued to argue. “With all due respect, ma’am, I still have a job to do, and we have to deter people from being on the tracks,” he said. “I have to do this. It’s part of my job.”
Gabriel also asked whether the citation had to happen. “Is this necessary? Like, what happens if you didn’t do it?” he asked an officer.
Hostin later arrived at the scene and continued making the case that her son should receive only a warning. “He teaches in the South Bronx,” she said. “I’m a former federal prosecutor, he knows, he’s a Harvard grad, he teaches fourth-grade geometry.”
She added, “This is not a kid who’s ever in trouble. This is an innocent mistake,” while an officer told her, “It’s not the end of the world.”
The footage puts the whole exchange in plain view: police said they were focused on keeping people off dangerous train tracks, while Hostin repeatedly pointed to her background and her son’s academic record as reasons for leniency.