Newly released police bodycam video shows The View co-host Sunny Hostin identifying both her television role and legal credentials as she appealed to officers during an encounter involving her son.
Hostin, 57, urged police not to issue a trespassing citation to her 24-year-old son, Gabriel, a Harvard graduate, after he was stopped last month while walking near train tracks.
The daytime TV personality arrived at the Metro-North Railroad tracks in Westchester County, New York, after officers detained him, and quickly introduced herself at the scene.
“My name is Sunny Hostin and I’m one of the co-hosts of The View and I’m a former federal prosecutor,” she told the officers, according to the bodycam footage.
She went on to emphasize her son’s background, saying, “That’s my son. He’s a Harvard graduate, he doesn’t have a criminal record.”
Police said Gabriel Hostin was detained at about 8 p.m. on June 16 on suspicion of criminal trespassing after he was allegedly found on the right-of-way of active railroad tracks, despite posted no-trespassing signs.
Gabriel told officers he had not meant to trespass, explaining that he had been out running and passed through an open gate.
Hostin arrived moments after officers relocated to a nearby street, where she described the situation to police as an “innocent mistake.”
The View co-host Sunny Hostin tried to talk cops out of arresting her son by repeatedly name-dropping her show and legal background, newly released bodycam footage shows
The TV star showed up to the scene to save her son Gabriel, 24, on the Metro-North Railroad tracks in Westchester County, New York, and wasted no time telling the officers who she was
Police said Gabriel Hostin was detained by the side of train tracks for ‘criminal trespassing’ around 8pm on June 16 in New Rochelle, New York, but he claimed he went through an open gate while out on a run
Hostin repeatedly informed the officers at the scene that not only was she the host of The View, but she is also a former attorney.
‘I’m a former federal prosecutor,’ she said as she arrived on scene.
‘He knows. He’s a Harvard grad who teaches 4th grade geometry to South Bronx kids.’
She described her son as ‘not a kid who’s ever in trouble’, as she implored the officers not to issue her son a citation.
The cops did not appear impressed by Hostin’s pleading, and told Gabriel he was getting a trespass violation ticket.
Gabriel then responded, ‘Is this necessary?’ to which the officers replied with a short, ‘Yes.’
‘What happens if you didn’t do it?’ he then asked, seemingly referring to the ticket he was about to receive.
The cops told him that their ‘hands were tied,’ and they had no choice but to give him the citation.
‘Because it is an arrestable offense. I want to make that clear, okay? Where you were on the tracks is an arrestable offense,’ one of the offices added.
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Hostin quickly told the officers that her son is a Harvard graduate with no criminal record
In the bodycam footage, Hostin arrived on scene and told the officers: ‘My name is Sunny Hostin and I’m one of the co-hosts of ‘The View’ and I’m a former federal prosecutor’
Hostin, 57, pleaded with cops not to issue her Harvard-educated son Gabriel, 24, a trespassing citation
The officer said he was not putting Gabriel in handcuffs, and was ‘dimming it down to a trespass violation because you were in the right-of-way, you weren’t in the gauge or anything, which is the middle area where the tracks were on.’
‘And you’ve been very cooperative with us and you have a good background, everything like that.
‘We know you’re not a criminal or anything like that but our hands are tied with cameras everywhere.’
Following the citation, Gabriel Hostin was ordered to return to court in New Rochelle, New York on July 31.
According to the New York Post, his former federal prosecutor mom is representing him.
Sunny Hostin also penned a letter to Westchester Assistant District Attorney Amanda Greene, the prosecutor in the case, where she asked for the case to be dismissed.
‘My client is a 2025 Harvard University graduate with no criminal history or prior contact with the criminal justice system,’ she wrote in the letter, obtained by TMZ.
‘He is an avid runner and former Junior Olympian track athlete who was in the area training. When jogging, he observed what appeared to be a gravel incline that could be used for hill training,’ she went on.
‘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,’ she claimed.
‘He reasonably believed the area was accessible and had no intention of entering private property unlawfully.’
Hostin shares son Gabriel and daughter, Paloma, 20, with orthopedic surgeon Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Hostin, 54
Hostin – who has been a co-host on The View since 2016 – added that her son was facing ‘unnecessary consequences’ for an ‘honest mistake.’
‘Dismissal would avoid imposing unnecessary consequences on a young man who has demonstrated exceptional character and achievement and who poses no risk to the community,’ she added.
Hostin shares son Gabriel and daughter, Paloma, 20, with orthopedic surgeon Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Hostin, 54.
The Daily Mail has contacted Sunny Hostin and ABC for comment.
