City Councilwoman Is Charged With Biting Police Chief During Protest

A New York City councilwoman faces assault charges after a heated protest at the Brooklyn site of a proposed men’s homeless shelter at which, the authorities say, she bit a police chief.

A crowd of protesters clashed with officers around 6 a.m. Wednesday on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, with video showing dozens of people waving American flags and crowding an intersection. Several rushed officers and barricades.

In the midst of the skirmish, one arm handcuffed, fighting with officers over a barricade, was the councilwoman, Wenyi Susan Zhuang.

Ms. Zhuang, 38, prevented officers from getting close to a woman who was on the ground by shoving barricades into them, the police said. When officers initially tried to arrest Ms. Zhuang, she bit a chief, twisted and pulled away, they said.

The councilwoman, whose district covers swaths of southern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Dyker Heights and Mapleton-Midwood, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.

Ms. Zhuang did not immediately respond to a request for comment at a phone number listed for her. Her office also had not responded to messages by Wednesday afternoon.