Queens MP Jeffrion L. Aubry was injured in a fall during the opening of the new Parliament on Thursday morning, a day of celebrations being uncomfortably interrupted. Louis Armstrong Center Witnesses say he was attacked by a man who ran through the crowd after getting out of his car in Queens.
Rep. Aubrey was just speaking at the Center’s opening when a man collided with him. He appeared to be bleeding from Aubrey’s head and was carried on a stretcher with a bandage wrapped around his head.
Aaron Prashad, 41, an emergency medical technician, said a man driving a silver Honda pulled up to the curb, accelerated into a crowd, backed up as he approached people, and pulled out of the car as police officers approached. He said he saw him jump. . The man then sprinted through the crowd as police chased him.
“He was definitely going to drive through,” said Prashad, who was born and raised in Queens.
Armstrong Center spokeswoman Mary-Claire Mikel said she felt the man skim past her as she was running near the front of the crowd. She said Aubrey was about to leave the stage after giving a speech when a man collided with him.
“They made almost full body chest-to-chest contact and he flipped over,” Ms. Miskel said.
Aubrey was taken to Elmhurst Hospital.
“The legislator has been treated for a laceration in his eye and has been discharged from Elmhurst Hospital,” Tiquana Rivers, a political consultant who works with Aubrey, said in a statement Thursday night. “He’s fine, he’s fine.”
She said that when he was celebrating the opening of the Louis Armstrong Center, he was “involved in the unfortunate incident of a man being run over while being pursued by the New York Police Department” and “because he missed a long period of rest.” I was just upset,” he said. A long awaited celebration. “
Police did not respond to requests for comment.
The new center is across from the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, where the jazz great Armstrong lived with his wife Lucille until his death in 1971. The center will have exhibition space and will be the home of Louis Armstrong. The Louis Armstrong Archive, a collection of 60,000 items. There is his 75-seat theater that can be used for performances, lectures, movies, and other educational experiences.
Regina Bain, executive director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, urged everyone to remain calm as people near the front line called for emergency workers to help Aubrey. “If you’re a prayer person, pray for Jeff Aubrey now,” she said.
Bain led the crowd in singing “Lord, come here” as several emergency medical technicians bandaged Aubrey and helped him to his feet.
Aubrey was carried out on a stretcher and the ceremony resumed with a speech by State Senator Jessica Ramos, who broke down in tears as she began her speech.
“Jeff Aubrey is more than just an organization, it’s a treasure to this community,” she said. “So I apologize for getting him a little emotional, but seeing him hurt hurts me and it hurts all of us.”
Ms Bain, the museum’s executive director, said members of the community that had gathered tried to support Ms Aubrey, saying, “We did it through music, we did it through prayer,” she said. .
“We are part of the community in every way,” she said. “This building is meant to answer all of that.”
Chelsea Rose Marcius Contributed to the report.
