Correction Officer Charged With Assaulting 87-Year-Old Man In Fort Greene Pizzeria, Police Say

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Police have arrested the correction officer who knocked an 87-year-old man to the ground of a Fort Greene pizzeria because he brought a cigarette inside.

Kyesha Crafton, 33, allegedly shoved the elderly man against the doorway of Pipitone’s Pizza & Pasta at 100 DeKalb Ave, around 1 p.m. on May 18th, police said.

The victim, whom the Daily News identified as Florida resident Andrea Chiarappi, said he came into the pizzeria with a cigarette in his hand to buy a bottle of water before visiting a friend at Brooklyn Hospital.

When Crafton complained about the smoke, Chiarappi left the pizza parlor, dropped the cigarette, and returned to apologize, he told the Daily News.

Crafton responded by slamming him into the doorway, at which point he lost his balance and fell to the ground, the Daily News reported.

Crafton’s victim suffered from cuts on shoulder and knees as well as bruising on his arm, police said.

Crafton was arrested, charged with assault and release on her own recognizance on Monday, court records show.

Crafton, a correction officer since 2012, was suspended without pay from her post at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, N.Y., according to a New York State Corrections Department spokesman.

Photo via the NYPD