Traders show solidarity after one of them was arrested and hospitalized over the weekend

On Monday, traders gathered in Soundview to show their solidarity with one of their own who was arrested on Saturday.

Dozens of dealers gathered along Westchester Avenue, the exact spot where another dealer was arrested Saturday afternoon. That dealer remains in the hospital.

A video taken by a passerby who witnessed the incident shows the arrested saleswoman, Cecilia Rebollar Perez, lying in handcuffs, apparently unconscious. The video shows police officers carrying Perez and others trying to intervene, but they are pushed away.

Perez and her family members, who also work as vendors, said Saturday was the first time they set up their stand outside 1571 Westchester Avenue – and the first time police handcuffed them.

“They treated her so badly, they pushed her. I just ask that they do their job properly,” said Perez’s daughter-in-law Angeles Trejo. “When I saw her lying unconscious on the ground, I begged the police to call an ambulance, but they never called one.”

According to the Sanitation Department, vendors are not allowed to set up stalls on Westchester Avenue without a license or permit.

Both the Department of Sanitation and the New York Police Department say Cecilia Rebollar Perez bit a garbage man before she was handcuffed and that she now faces charges.