Councilmember Susan Zhuang (D-Bensonhurst) — who bit a police officer during a protest against a forthcoming homeless shelter in her district — raised $238,686 from more than 800 supporters, according to a new quarterly filing with the city’s Conflict of Interest Board released Tuesday.
The money amassed by her legal defense fund since last fall will go towards helping Zhuang fight against a felony second degree assault charge and several others that are pending in Brooklyn Supreme Court following a scuffle with police last summer. She’s due back in court Jan. 27.
Zhuang’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the fundraising figures.
While Zhuang, a right-leaning Democrat, bills herself as a firm ally of police who ran with the endorsement of the Police Benevolent Association during her 2023 campaign, she’s since argued she and other protesters were treated unfairly by the NYPD when they rushed to the construction site of the proposed shelter early one July morning.
Video posted to social media showed the moment Zhuang bit the officer, which she has not denied doing. Rather, Zhuang has decried “police brutality” demanding, “all those involved should face full accountability for their conduct” at a press conference last summer where she was heralded as a hero by dozens of supporters.
Zhuang and her backers have said they were trying to free an elderly woman who had fallen under a police barricade when the scuffle erupted. Zhuang has also said an officer grabbed her hair and neck, though that appears to have happened after she bit the officer’s arm, according to video of the incident.
A photo released by the NYPD showed a bloody bite mark on the officer’s arm.
Droves of Zhuang’s supporters have attended her criminal hearings and even threw a parade in her honor.
Opposition to the homeless shelter, which would be the first in the southern Brooklyn district, drove some Asian American voters towards the Republican Party last fall, as part of their continued shift away from Democrats.
After the July incident, Zhuang also received a warm reception by Mayor Eric Adams who is also typically an ardent defender of the NYPD.
The City Council opened an ethics probe into Zhuang’s conduct, though the Council has said that probe is on hold until after her criminal case is resolved.
