Two protestors were arrested, including one City Council aide, yesterday afternoon during a “die-in” demonstration in Jersey City opposing the closure of Heights University Hospital.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The arrestees were Isaac Jimenez of the North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America and Hudson County DSA, and Carissa Cunningham, a fellow DSA member and aide to Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks.
“There was a warning given. I told them to stop at the door. She pushed through. They were told to stop multiple times. And she resisted when she was stopped,” a Jersey City police officer told Brooks.
The protest began in front of the hospital, where a sit-in was being held by the NNJ DSA since Thursday. The 24/7 sit-in escalated into what they called a “die-in” at 3 p.m. Saturday, which lasted until the official closure at 7:30 p.m.
During the “die-in,” protestors officially moved from the public right-of-way on the sidewalk onto HUH property in the parking lot.
There, they continued the demonstration singing protest songs and chanting while laying on the ground, with their bodies encircled by chalk drawings like corpses at crime scenes to symbolize those who will die without access to Heights University Hospital.
When they finished with the “die-in,” protestors then attempted to enter the hospital through the Emergency Department.
However, after walking from the front of the building on Palisade Avenue to the ED entrance on the side of the building, they discovered Hudson Regional Health, the hospital operator, had already locked the doors to prevent them from entering.
As the protest carried on outside the ED, some protestors managed to find an open door near a loading dock adjacent to the ED entrance. Jimenez then expediently led a group of demonstrators to that entrance and gained access to the facility.
Once they were inside, police officers who had been observing the demonstration from a short distance rushed to stop the protestors, of which it appeared about a handful managed to enter.
Several media outlets were just feet away from their incursion into Heights University Hospital, witnessing firsthand how Jimenez was arrested for attempting to push past officers and gain entry into the hospital to help Cunningham.
Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros was seen trying to calm Jimenez down as he struggled with police to get inside, eventually being forced to the ground where police handcuffed him.
“We are deeply concerned by the manner in which two protestors were arrested outside Christ Hospital [yesterday]. While we are relieved that both have since been released, we affirm the right to free speech and freedom of assembly,” Ephros said in a statement.
According to eyewitnesses, Cunningham (they/them) made it inside the hospital and sat down as police attempted to remove them for trespassing.
They were also visibly removed from the facility with police dragging them by their arms and legs on the ground as their clothes started to come off.
After moving them away from the loading dock they used to gain entry, police helped Cunningham to their feet.
As they were escorted away by multiple JCPD officers, Cunningham shouted how people will die because of the hospital closure before Brooks approached them to calm them down.
Both were arrested and put in the back of police cruisers, with Brooks and Ephros following them to the North Precinct.
Brooks tried to ride along with them but was denied by police, who called her a “prisoner” and stated they were not being peaceful because they were pushing officers.
Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa, who represents the ward most of the hospital sits in, watched the events unfold near other elected officials including Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little.
“I don’t know what happened inside. I was towards the door with some other elected officials to observe. All I know is that two individuals came out in police custody and went into police cars. Outside was certainly a peaceful protest to encourage the state to intervene. It’s my understanding two individuals went inside and they’re both detained.”
Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (D-32) told HCV after the incident but before the hospital closed that the facility already had its doors locked prior to the announced shutdown.
She said she had to help a patient get inside as the hospital staff locked Emergency Department entrance doors to keep protestors out.
“The Christ Hospital Emergency Department is supposed to be open right now,” she explained.
“Even by HRH standards, it was supposed be open until 7:30 p.m. tonight. When they shut it down, that is illegal. And yet, here we are, in the middle of the afternoon, and all the Emergency Department doors are locked.”
According to Brennan, she was upset that protestors were arrested “so violently.” She thanked them for “their service” via their civil disobedience, a sentiment which was echoed by state Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32).
“What we’re talking about here are safety net hospitals and an urban community being abandoned and people over profit,” Mukherji expressed.
“That was I think an old-fashioned act of resistance that reflects the outrage of the community – that Jersey City, a city of nearly 300,000 people and the economic engine of the state, is already down to one acute-care hospital. A now we will be down to one ER. And we must do better than this.”
Both Jimenez and Cunningham were released by Saturday evening, HCV confirmed.
One protestor who made it in inside, a Jersey City resident who spoke openly under the condition of anonymity, said she followed Jimenez to the door near the loading dock adjacent to the Emergency Department after another demonstrator found it.
The protestors saw their opening and seized the moment, she said.
“The cops were watching us. They knew our intention was to go in because we announced it publicly. The door was open. They watched us pass by and let us do it. When we got halfway in, they rushed to grab us. They said this was no longer peaceful and that we were trespassing. They didn’t warn us.”
The protestor said she saw Cunningham dragged out by officers holding her by her limbs after she sat down once inside the hospital and refused to leave.
She said the other protestors were pushed outside after they removed and arrested Cunningham following Jimenez, who according to the protestor was forcing his way inside in attempts to assist Cunningham.
“They were manhandling them because they were just resisting. I didn’t see them hit anybody. They kept pushing us out roughly. They kept pushing me against the guy in front of me. Isaac was trying to come in to help Carissa, but they wouldn’t let him in,” she asserted.
“So he tried to force his way in, then like three cops pinned him down and one had their knee on his back. They arrested him and then they dragged Carissa out with their pants halfway down scratching against the concrete and took the two of them away.”
While the facility ultimately shuttered despite opposition from local, state, and federal elected officials and residents alike, that didn’t stop last-minute legal actions or protesting of the closure, all as HCV first reported.
