Social media influencer Kai Cenat, four others charged with felonies in Union Square riot; Mayor Adams blames violence on poor parenting

Felony charges were brought against five of the estimated 5,000 people involved in the chaos that erupted at Union Square on Friday when a social media influencer’s PlayStation giveaway turned into a riot in which cops were pelted with bottles and debris and out-of-control teens jumped and danced on cars, police said Saturday.

The alleged instigator of the mayhem — Kai Cenat, who has 6.5 million followers on the gaming site Twitch and four million on YouTube — was freed with a desk appearance ticket on a low-level, Class E felony charge of riot, as well as misdemeanor charges of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, said police.

When Cenat was freed from the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side at about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, a security guard rushed him into a waiting SUV, and he was driven away. At the time, police sources said Cenat had only been charged with a misdemeanor.

Among those also charged with felonies were a 31-year-old homeless man, Roberto Sessoms, who is accused of biting and head-butting a cop and threatening to kill police officers after he was rounded up in the Friday afternoon melee. He is charged with assault on a police officer, making a terrorism threat, and other counts.

Another felony case was lodged against 19-year-old Gramercy Park resident Saeed Almonte, who was seen jumping up and down on a taxi trying to make his way through the area, said police.

Queens resident Angel John, 19, was accused of assault for punching a police officer in the head, and an unnamed 15-year-old boy who threw eggs and full bottles of water was charged with attempted assault, obstructing governmental administration, and other counts, police said.

The suspects charged with felony assault were arrested and sent to Manhattan Criminal Court for arraignment, police said. The others, including Cenat, were freed directly from police custody without an immediate court appearance.

An additional 30 adults and 31 juveniles were also taken into custody during the pandemonium on disorderly conduct charges. They were given summonses and sent home, said an NYPD spokesman said.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mayor Adams said ineffective parenting may have been the root cause of the chaos Friday in the crowd that mainly consisted of teenagers.

“This isn’t a police issue — this is a parenting issue,” Adams said. “Our children cannot be raised by social media. They’re being inundated by influencers.”

Although everyone charged with felonies liveS in the city, Adams said police are looking into the possibility that some of the violence that unfolded was caused by “outside agitators” who tossed smoke bombs and fireworks and encouraged wanton destruction of public property.

“You don’t come to get free Gameboys and bring smoke bombs and M80s,” Adams said.

Cops on Saturday released images of eight teens who jumped on and kicked an unmarked NYPD vehicle parked on Broadway near E. 13th St. as Union Square was overrun. The teens are believed to be between ages 14 and 18, police said.

The big crowd of mainly teenage boys showed up at Union Square Friday for what they believed was Cenat’s plan to giveaway free PlayStation 5 consoles they expected Cenat to give away.

At around 1:30 p.m., a few hundred people had turned out. But by two hours later, the crowd had grown into the thousands. Soon the incident took a turn as people in the crowd ran amok, throwing plastic bottles and climbing structures in the Union Square Park, video from the scene showed.

A rare level four mobilization was called by the NYPD, sending all available cops to the scene.

“There were people everywhere,” Alec “Apple” Vanderbilt, who witnessed the chaos, told the Daily News Saturday. “People were climbing on things, dancing, there was no control. There was hundreds and hundreds of people, way too many people all over the park,” he said.

Many of the teens followed a drone that was buzzing back and forth in the park, while the others followed Cenat, Vanderbilt said.

“It was like monkey see, monkey do,” he remembered. “They saw people running one way and they all followed. They saw him jump into the garden and they followed.”

“It’s like everyone was under hypnosis. They just went too far,” he said.

One officer broke his hand during the fracas. Other officers sustained minor bumps and bruises, a high-ranking NYPD official said Saturday.

“Many cops were hurt, but quickly walked it off. They didn’t realize they were hurt until afterwards,” said the official.

Police expressed pride in the amount of restraint they exercised in the situation.

“You had about 5,000 youths who just weren’t listening to anybody, and we cleared the park out without using much force,” the high-ranking police official said. “Other cities would have used all kind of aggressive tactics to curb this type of situation.”

NYPD spokesman Tarik Sheppard said the restraint cops showed “ensured the safety of thousands of young people in the crowds and a successful resolution of very precarious conditions.”

“Our officers showed a level of evolved professionalism that the city can be proud of,” he said.

The situation at Union Square “could have turned really ugly” if cops took a more aggressive approach, Adams said.

“As I monitored and communicated with the ground teams, I was telling them ‘These are young people. We have to be mindful of that as we bring back order,’” Adams said.