WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY - An alleged trespassing incident involving the adult son of “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin this past June in Westchester County has been uncovered during which the television personality attempted to flex her celebrity status to get her son off the hook, with bodycam footage showcasing Hostin’s failed attempt at receiving special treatment.
On June 16, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Police officers encountered 24-year-old Gabriel Hostin as he was allegedly traversing across a restricted area along the Metro-North Railroad tracks, leading to a brief detainment culminating in a citation where in between the encounter and trespassing citation, Gabriel and his mother attempted to pull the ‘you know who I am’ card.
When officers stopped Gabriel, he claimed he was just out jogging when he passed through an open fence near the tracks, telling officers, “Oh, I'm sorry. It was open over there. I was just walking out for a run here.” The officers went on to explain the posted “no trespassing” signs Gabriel allegedly breezed by while entering the restricted area, emphasizing the safety issues posed by the incident.
“So, this is considered trespassing. It's a criminal trespass. The reason why it's such a big deal, people get hit by a train all the time,” one of the officers stated, adding, “We want to prevent it, obviously.”
While in the process of being detained, Gabriel gets his mother, Sunny, on the phone, which she can be heard saying, “Tell him your mother is a federal prosecutor.” Sunny had previously worked as a federal prosecutor in D.C., although her work in said field ended roughly two decades ago around the time of her becoming pregnant and landing her first gig on television on CourtTV before transitioning to Fox and later CNN in 2007.
Prior to physically arriving on the scene, Sunny asked one of the officers while on the phone if it was “really necessary” for Gabriel to be issued an appearance ticket, which the officer clarified was a downgrade to misdemeanor trespassing, telling the television personality, “It’s absolutely necessary, Miss.”
Gabriel thereafter asks the cops, “Is this necessary,” to which multiple officers reply simultaneously with, “Yes.” Granted, while being cordial, Gabriel floated the hypothetical, “What happens if we don’t do it,” in reference to being issued an appearance summons. One of the officers responded bluntly with, “Well, you know, we have cameras everywhere – if we didn’t see you, somebody would’ve called it over… Our hands are tied; it is what it is.”
Sunny arrived at the scene within seconds of Gabriel attempting his last effort to get out of the summons, with one of the officers greeting Sunny and going over a brief recap of the circumstances. Sunny alledgedly responded, “Can you give him a warning?” Again, the officer explained that the circumstances required, at minimum, the issuance of a summons for a simple violation which already served as a break from possible misdemeanor charges.
After it was clear that attempts at making the matter go entirely away were exhausted, Sunny later clarified to the officers on scene that she was a “former” prosecutor while highlighting that her son works as a geometry teacher, saying, “This is not a kid who is ever in trouble. It’s an innocent mistake.”
One of the officers then explained the summons process, telling Hostin and her son that he would have to appear in court on a later date, emphasizing, “It’s not the end of the world, it’s not the crime of the century, okay?”
In a letter obtained by TMZ, it was revealed that Sunny is representing her son in court over the ostensibly trivial matter, with the television personality requesting that the respective district attorney drop the case completely because her son couldn’t have seen the “no trespassing” sign affixed to the open gates he reportedly crossed through.
“While jogging, [Gabriel] observed what appeared to be a gravel incline that could be used for hill training. Although there was a gate at the entrance of the gravel incline, the gates were standing open. The only ‘No Trespassing’ sign was affixed to the left gate and, because the gates were open, it was not visible to my client as he entered the property,” Sunny’s letter to the DA reads in part.
Gabriel’s next scheduled court appearance related to the incident is slated for July 31.
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