Newark Street Vendor Arrest Sparks Outrage In Community, Activists Say

NEWARK, NJ — If you live near Branford Place and Broad Street in Newark, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen Sharif Amenhotep’s red, black and green minibus parked at the intersection. The Newark resident has been earning a living as a street peddler by selling items out of his vehicle for nearly 20 years – including three years at Branford and Broad – becoming a fixture on the corner and a friendly sight to many people in the neighborhood. He has a license with the city. He follows the rules.

And that’s part of the reason why he’s so upset about what happened there last month, the lifelong Brick City resident recently told Patch.

According to Amenhotep, Newark police arrested him on the day before Thanksgiving while he was working. He’d come back to find a tow company hooking up his bus to a truck, with a police officer at the scene. When he went to dispute the tow – arguing that he had a vending license and was legally parked – a confrontation broke out. As the tow truck driver continued to hook up the bus, Amenhotep said he tried to go under the vehicle and see what was happening.

The next thing he knew, Amenhotep was being dragged out from under the bus by police and handcuffed, twisting his foot so hard in the process that it broke and tore ligaments, he said.

After he was released from the hospital that night, Amenhotep quickly recovered his vehicle. But the damage to his reputation – and his injured foot – will take longer to fix, he told Patch.

“I got my bus back out with no problem because they knew they didn't have the right to tow it,” he said. “It was just a total disregard of my rights.”

Amenhotep told Patch that he’s planning to fight the charges, “all the way to the highest court” if needed.

Reached for comment about the allegations, Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé released the following statement about the arrest:

“Sharif Amenhotep, 45, of Newark, was arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at Branford Place and Broad Street. He faces charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of the administration of the law in connection with an incident involving a tow company attempting to tow a vehicle at that location. No further information is available.”

‘WE HAVE A LOT MORE WORK TO DO’

While some people recognize Amenhotep as a street peddler, others know him in a different capacity: as one of the city’s most well-respected community activists. For decades, he has been leading anti-violence campaigns and events in Newark, pushing for peace and cooperation between residents and police.

Last year, Amenhotep’s daughter, Sanaa, a former Newark resident who moved to South Carolina with her mother, was reported missing. According to police, three teens who she knew allegedly lured her into a stolen car, abducted her and shot her multiple times. Read More: Newark Mourns For Slain Daughter Of Anti-Violence Activist

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Amenhotep has continued to push for peace in his home city, hitting the streets with a renewed fervor amid a spike in gun violence last summer. Read More: Uptick In Deadly Violence Renews Push For Peace In Newark

As part of this mission, Amenhotep has ardently advocated for more cooperation and trust between police and the residents they serve. It’s a stance he doesn’t take lightly; he’s well aware of the checkered history between the city and its police force.

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Once known for corruption and racial profiling that led to an infamous federal consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Newark Police Department has seen a wave of change in recent years.

In 2021, the city reallocated 5 percent of its police budget to create the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, which provides social services to residents in an effort to break the cycle of violence. Read More: Newark Will Take $12M From Police, Reinvest In Social Services

The city also graduated its first class of 10 social workers along with 67 Newark police recruits that year. "We cannot arrest our way out of violence and trauma," Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery director Lakeesha Eure said, echoing a call that many community activists had been making for decades. Read More: Newark Police Recruits, Social Workers Graduate Side-By-Side

In recent years, police officers in Newark have been undergoing training that aims to remedy past problems and "de-escalate" potentially deadly situations. It's been working, top public safety officials say – no local cop fired a shot in 2020.

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Newark police are also collaborating with the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, Newark Community Street Team and Newark Street Academy, and other community groups in an attempt to stop the violence before it begins – which has been paying big dividends, some say.

Along the way, stories of Newark police officers reaching out to the community and building trust with residents have continued to make news headlines.

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Amenhotep is quick to praise the progress that’s been made over the past years, crediting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and public safety leaders for trying to change the culture of policing in the city. Read More: Newark Police Revamp Mugshot Policy After Viral Social Media Post

He’s also quick to recognize that police officers are “human” and “have regular lives like we all do.” But according to Amenhotep, last month’s arrest is a dark spot in a brightening sky – and a “messed up” throwback to much uglier times in New Jersey’s largest city.

“Like police culture … the only thing they understand is ‘arrest, arrest, arrest’ – they don’t know how to use discretion,” Amenhotep charged.

“I should not have been treated like that – like some type of criminal,” he continued. “I should not have been humiliated in front of the community like that, dragged on the ground. My bus should not have been towed, and have the community looking at me as though I have some bad business practice.”

“It just shows that we have a lot more work to do,” he said.

Another longtime civil rights activist in Newark, Zayid Muhammad, put out a stern defense of Amenhotep earlier this month, criticizing the Nov. 23 arrest and calling for more investigation. Muhammad also called for any residents who may have caught the incident on video to “step forward” and share the footage with the Brick City Peace Collective and the Newark Civilian Complaint Review Board.

According to Muhammad, several people who witnessed the arrest were “outraged,” and it was only thanks to an assist from Deputy Mayor Rahaman Muhammad and former Newark AntiViolence Coalition member Tyrone ‘Street Counsel’ Barnes – who pleaded with those on scene to remain calm – that the situation didn’t evolve into something much uglier.

Here are two things that Newark residents should ask about the encounter, Muhammad wrote:

• “Was the vehicle being illegally removed?”
• “Amenhotep is arguably one of the best-known anti-violence activists in the city … Given Amenhotep’s profile, why then was the area swarmed with police, and why was there not anyone in police leadership on hand who could have addressed the situation and properly de-escalated it?”

“All of this begs more important questions,” Muhammad said. “Isn’t Newark going through a historic police reform effort? Hasn’t its community-based violence intervention efforts brought down violence in the community by 50 percent? Haven’t these efforts garnered national attention as a number of cities are now examining how they can employ similar strategies to combat violence in their respective cities?”

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