Anti-Israel NYT Contributor Busted for Graffiti, Claims He Didn't Know It Was Illegal
A pro-Palestinian activist with bylines in The New York Times, Salon, Vulture and other far-left media outlets complained on social media this past week that he was jailed for tagging city property with graffiti.
Kyle Turner, a little-known writer and activist, explained on his X page Friday that he was arrested for scribbling a message against Israel’s war against Islamic terror on a New York City subway wall.
He also said that it was only after he was taken into custody that he was told vandalism was an offense that could land one in big trouble.
In a lengthy thread, the pro-LGBT author and film and theatre reviewer said he was confronted by the NYPD when he was caught writing “ceasefire/free Palestine” in the middle of the night.
He called the confrontation “stupid” and said he spent a night in jail:
it was four and a half hours of cops milling about doing paperwork. a waste of time and resources. I sincerely didn’t know graffiti in the subway (which i see all the time) was an arrestable offense. But i also cant believe our tax dollars go to cops focusing on minor infractions
— kyle turner (@TyleKurner) April 13, 2024
Turner claimed one of the officers who arrested him was a “lesbian” who aggressively wanted to jail him while her “Muslim” partner wanted to show him leniency:
he told me he hated his job, doing all the paperwork & being up late (he apparently was a rookie), and that his electrical engineering degree was useless in the states and the NYPD was the only place to give someone with min experience a job. which is fucked up on multiple levels
— kyle turner (@TyleKurner) April 13, 2024
Turner, 30, concluded his four hours locked up left him feeling “mad at the structures and institutions in our society.”
I’m totally okay, btw. Just annoyed and tired (they finally let me go at 6:30). And so mad at the structures and institutions in our society teehee
— kyle turner (@TyleKurner) April 13, 2024
The far-left blogger also answered a question from one of his followers, who had asked him why he felt the need to designate one of the NYPD officers he encountered as an apparent lesbian.
Turner replied that lesbians, in his opinion, were marginalized and should not wear badges.
Because it sucks when people from a community most likely to be under threat from cops are cops
— kyle turner (@TyleKurner) April 13, 2024
He later told the New York Post that his brief stint behind bars was “a waste of public resources.”
Hamas rioter, Kyle Turner, 30, of Brooklyn and NY Times, GQ, Slate reporter, busted for NYC subway graffiti — then whines he had no idea it was illegal. Calls NYPD cop a lesbian. Graffiti is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or probation.https://t.co/EB3S4u9TYf
— Blue Lives Matter 💎 (@RetiredNYCPD) April 16, 2024
“I clearly didn’t pose a threat to anyone,” Turner told the outlet. “It was a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”
According to a journalism profile for Turner, he last contributed to The New York Times two years ago, but his writing has been shared by Yahoo and AOL in recent months.
He also had an article recently published by Newsbreak that was headlined, “Limp Wrists and Locked Jaws: Inside the Strange, Social World of Gay Men and Rich Women.”
Most of what Turner writes centers on gay issues, and he recently wrote a book called “The Queer Film Guide: 100 great movies that tell LGBTQIA+ stories.”
Turner told the Post that he has been protesting against Israel for the last six months and that he must appear in court next month for defacing public property.
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