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Cops Devour Pizza Bound for Occupy Wall Street Protesters at 7th Precinct

By Tom Liddy | December 4, 2011 12:49am
Pizza.
Pizza.
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lassonyc.com

MANHATTAN — Dough!

Cops from the Lower East Side's 7th Precinct took more than the law into their own hands — devouring a pair of pizza pies bound for protesters dressed as Robin Hood who were being held in the stationhouse.

New York's Hungriest at the 19 1/2 Pitt St. stationhouse Thursday night sunk their teeth into two large cheese pies from Mini Munchies as well as bottles of Sprite and Coke that were destined for the eight of the demonstrators, who were being held after being arrested during a protest for World AIDS Day near City Hall, according to Housing Works, which shelled out $30 for the goodies.

"We could see the empty pizza boxes in the trash, and the empty plastic bottles," said Charles King, the president of Housing Works in a statement. "We confronted the officers at the precinct about stealing the pizzas and they just smiled and laughed at us and didn't deny it."

The protesters dressed in the Robin Hood outfits, from Housing Works, VOCAL-NY and Occupy Wall Street, were far from merry without their dinner.

The Boys in Blue were left slightly red-faced.

"Any way you slice it, it was an honest mistake," said Paul Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman. "Precinct officers began to consume pizza delivered at the desk in the mistaken belief that Task Force officers had ordered it for their fellow officers, a common practice when outside units make arrests in another command."

Browne said that when the officers realized that they had scarfed down the protesters' pies, they quickly ordered replacements, but the prisoners refused.

“We weren’t touching their dirty pizza,” said King. “We knew it was cheesy hush money. But some day I will have a bite of Mini Munchies, God as my witness.”

In any event, cops said that they couldn't have let the demonstrators have a piece of the pie.

"Prisoner meals must be provided by the department itself or if prisoners don’t like the standard fare then police may purchase alternatives with funds provided by the prisoners," Browne said.

"Police are prohibited from accepting accept food for prisoners sent by purported  Good Samaritans or others."