Riding on a flatbed “sleigh,” a jolly Santa arrived in style Thursday evening to the cheers of a few hundred Bedford-Stuyvesant families as part of NYPD Brooklyn North’s second annual holiday ride.
Kids lined up to meet Santa, who was joined by his super friends Spider-Man, Thor, Batman and Minnie Mouse. The Flash ran ahead of the motorcade as decked-out dancers performed to songs like “Here Comes Santa Claus,” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
Bed-Stuy is among the festive event’s 10 stops in Brooklyn North — one in each precinct. Officers also distribute thousands of wrapped toys, including princess castles, Moana dolls, bicycles, basketballs and Brooklyn Nets shirts. Some lucky parents snagged TVs, too.
“We just try to bring a little Christmas magic to them,” said Assistant Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, commanding officer of Brooklyn North. “This is our commitment to neighborhood policing … We have close interactions with our communities. We reach out to them, we show them that we care about them.”
Nets small forward Joe Harris, along with teammate Jarrett Allen, helped hand out gifts and snapped photos with excited kids.
“[It’s an] opportunity for us to help give back to the community in the giving time of the year,” Harris said. “It’s been awesome, everybody is extremely excited. It really is the spirit of Christmas … it’s really nice to see everyone getting into the spirit of the holidays.”
Bed-Stuy resident Tamesha Abson, 34, brought her 11-year-old son Tyler to the grab-bag event, happy to see police officers making an effort to connect with the community.
“I think it’s a good thing, making us feel more comfortable with them; and being around them and being able to have conversations with them and seeing they’re regular people and they can be approachable,” she said. “It’s a start.”
Suhale Wallace brought her thrilled 6-year-old twins, Suniya and Karell.
“It’s good for the community, for us to get closer to one another,” she said. “There’s always a barrier between the police and the community, so it’s good that everyone is trying to come together as one.”
Priest Oyo, 13, who came with his mom, couldn’t wait to introduce his little brother, 4-year-old Che Oyo, to Santa. He said his younger sibling means a lot to him and he wanted to do something special for him.
“Without him, I would be a totally different person,” the elder Oyo said about his little brother.
When asked what he was most excited for, little Che only had one answer: “To see Santa Claus.”
