Two Brooklyn activists were pulled from their homes before dawn last Tuesday and charged with stalking and harassment after plastering flyers near an NYPD officer’s apartment that accused him of killing a Crown Heights man in 2021. Jamie Kowalski and Daniel Koh, both members of the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, now find themselves at the center of a fight over how far protest speech can go when it targets an individual officer’s home address.
According to Fight Back! News, Kowalski was arrested at his home at 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 20, and Koh was taken into custody an hour later. Brooklyn prosecutors said the two posted fliers outside NYPD Officer Conrado Abreu-Gerez’s apartment building, on his street, and at a nearby subway station, accusing him of killing Eudes Pierre in Crown Heights, as reported by Gothamist. Both activists were charged with misdemeanor stalking and harassment.
What the Flyers Said and Where They Went Up
Gothamist reports that NYPD spokesperson Bradley Weekes said officers worked with Brooklyn prosecutors to determine what crimes had occurred, basing the charges on three separate incidents. The first, Weekes said, happened in August, when activists knocked on the officer’s door and asked a family member if he lived there; activists later posted a poster reading “wanted killer cop” on a lamppost across the street. After Abreu-Gerez moved to another Brooklyn apartment, police and prosecutors say Kowalski and Koh posted fliers twice more — on the new building’s entrance, a nearby subway entrance, and a nearby lamppost, with messages reading “wanted for murder” and “a killer cop lives here.”
Fight Back! News reported that the alliance posted notices near Abreu-Gerez’s apartment in Sunset Park on Sept. 19 during a speakout, and again on Oct. 18, just two days before the arrests. At the September event, activists distributed fliers reading “Wanted: Killer cop!” and “Justice for Eudes Pierre!” — fliers that, per the same outlet, drew an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. Kowalski and Koh have acknowledged posting fliers in Abreu-Gerez’s neighborhood, and told Gothamist the material featured his photo and badge number distributed around the 71st Precinct and his Brooklyn block. The pair said they focused on Abreu-Gerez specifically because the other officer accused in the shooting had since retired.
The 2021 Shooting That Sparked the Campaign
Eudes Pierre was fatally shot by two NYPD officers on Dec. 20, 2021, after police responding to an early-morning 911 call found him on Eastern Parkway near Utica Avenue in Crown Heights, according to the New York Daily News. When officers moved from the subway station back up to the street, Pierre ran toward them with a knife, and the officers fired a total of 10 shots, killing him. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in March 2023 that the officers would face no criminal charges, with the Daily News reporting that investigators concluded a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers’ use of deadly force was legally justified. Gothamist additionally reports that a police oversight agency found the officers’ actions fell within NYPD guidelines.
A Fight Back! News report states that Abreu-Gerez’s NYPD career includes eight allegations of misconduct involving Black men, including excessive force, abuse of authority, and improper body-camera use. The alliance has held monthly demonstrations outside the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights calling for the arrest of the officers who shot Pierre on Eastern Parkway, according to Gothamist, and the group calls for community control of the police department. Koh told Gothamist the fliers were meant to inform the community that, in his view, a killer cop lived and worked among them.
A Legal Fight Over Where Protest Speech Ends
Kowalski told Gothamist the charges were ridiculous and trumped up, calling them part of authorities’ standard playbook for silencing protesters. The case, Gothamist notes, has become a test of the right to protest individual police officers, with the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office maintaining that the evidence shows Kowalski and Koh committed the charged crimes.
But several First Amendment scholars and an attorney told Gothamist the allegations likely do not meet the legal threshold for stalking and harassment. Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert and professor emeritus at UCLA School of Law, said he did not believe Kowalski and Koh should be charged, arguing they were not guilty of violating either statute and that fliers using the word “wanted” likely would not rise to criminal conduct. Volokh said posting fliers somewhere genuinely prohibited could support a different charge, such as trespassing, but added that police and prosecutors would need to show they hold everyone equally accountable for unauthorized fliers — not only people criticizing officers — or risk showing selective prosecution based on the content of the speech.
David Hudson, a First Amendment scholar and fellow at the Freedom Forum, told Gothamist that posting the fliers was likely protected speech, since criticism of government officials represents the most fundamental free-speech principle. Criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby told the outlet that people in the United States may write and say nasty things about others without it becoming criminal conduct, calling such speech protected under the First Amendment. Separately, the American Civil Liberties Union notes that the First Amendment protects the right to assemble and express views through protest, though government officials may impose certain narrow restrictions.
Police Union Pushes Back, Calls for New Protections
The Police Benevolent Association has backed the prosecution and views the posters as threatening, according to Gothamist. PBA president Patrick Hendry said he was glad the protesters were arrested and that the union would follow the case to ensure consequences, while accusing activists of lying when they claim transparency as a goal, arguing they are really seeking to weaken police privacy and due process protections. Hendry said the PBA wants lawmakers to strengthen laws protecting officers from this kind of campaign and will press for legislation to do so.
The push for new protections echoes concerns raised elsewhere in New York. According to WFMD, Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association president Louis Civello said a protester he had once arrested later tracked down his home address and showed up outside it with a billboard truck, prompting Civello to call for New York to pass an anti-doxxing law. Detectives’ Endowment Association president Scott Munro told the station the New York State Public Safety Alliance, representing 99 unions covering firefighters, traffic agents, sanitation enforcement agents, environmental police and bus drivers, is seeking a 15-foot safety buffer for public employees.
What Happens Next
Kowalski and Koh were released under supervision following their arraignments after being held for roughly 19 hours — Fight Back! News reported their release came at 12:20 a.m. on Oct. 21. More than 60 community members and activists rallied outside Brooklyn Central Court for more than 14 hours after the arrests, per the same outlet, and the alliance has scheduled another 71st Precinct picket for Thursday at 6 p.m. Gothamist reports the top charge against Kowalski and Koh is a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail, with the pair due back in court in December. New York court guidance notes that criminal case records can be requested directly from the Clerk of the Court or County Clerk holding them, through the New York State Unified Court System.
