Lefferts Gardens Neighbors Standing Up for Displaced Homeless Man

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — An online fundraising campaign has been launched to help a disabled Lefferts Gardens homeless man who said the city threw away his crutches and a significant portion of his possessions.

In a Jan. 4 Facebook post, Neysa Malone wrote that Thomas Harris, an amputee who lives on a bench by 239 Ocean Ave., had been told by police the previous night that he had to vacate the location.

"We asked them where exactly should he put his stuff and why must he leave the bench?," Malone wrote on Facebook. "[N]o explanation was given!"

According to a GoFundMe page set up by Kasia Bednarska, Harris is known as the "Drum Man" because he sells "beautiful authentic African drums that he creates himself near the drum circle in Prospect Park." She added that, "In the cold, the drums serve as a shield to keep him warm."

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Harris lost two fingers and a leg when he was struck by a train in 2012. He told the paper that after his police encounter, Sanitation Department employees "tossed many of his belongings in the trash, including clothes, blankets — and even his crutches."

The News caught up with Harris in Kings County Hospital, where he said that the police "treated me like a piece of s--t....I was crying like a baby. It was humiliating.”

Malone also posted a video of Sanitation employees arriving to remove Harris' possessions, which appeared to be stored under tarps:

The NYPD has offered a different account of what was taken. A department spokesperson said Friday that, "Twenty three drums, 14 wall fans and other personal property were vouchered for safekeeping. Empty bottles and bottles filled with urine were not vouchered."

The spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment as to why Harris was moved by police. A Sanitation Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment concerning what was taken or why.

On the GoFundMe page she set up, Bednarska wrote that she was able to hang on to Harris' wheelchair, which she brought to him at the hospital.

As of Friday, the page had raised $503, out of a goal of $5,000.

Pictured at top: Thomas Harris. Image via Kasia Bednarska on Facebook.