What started as a relatively straightforward summons for a trespassing violation has turned into a headline-making controversy thanks to The View co-host Sunny Hostin being caught on police body cam footage trying to invoke seemingly every ‘privilege’ she could think of to get her 24-year-old son off the hook.
The Incident
Gabriel Hostin was stopped by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police along the Metro-North railroad tracks in Westchester County last month after officers alleged he was in an area marked with “No Trespassing” signs near the New Rochelle train station.
Body cam footage shows police placing Gabriel, who graduated from Harvard University in 2025, in handcuffs and escorting him to a nearby sidewalk before the cuffs were removed. He told them he was out for a run and saw an open gate. Soon after, his mother arrived on the scene and started rattling off the credentials that were apparently supposed to sway the police into looking the other way.
“I’m a former federal prosecutor. He knows. He’s a Harvard grad who teaches fourth grade geometry to South Bronx kids,” Sunny argued. “He’s not a kid who’s ever in trouble. It’s an innocent mistake.”
The View host also mentioned the fact that she had a “big interview” that day (Vice President J.D. Vance had been a guest on the show) and that her son apparently does research at Yale University, another boost to his Ivy League bonafides.
After cops ran a criminal background check, the 24 year old received a trespass violation for what could have been an arrestable offense. But even that didn’t satisfy the Hostins.
“Is this necessary,” Gabriel asked the officers who, in unison, responded, “Yes.”
“What happens if you didn’t do it,” he asked in reference to the summons ticket.
The officers said their “hands were tied” because of all the nearby cameras, but they explained that they were lessening the offense due to his cooperation and lack of prior history.
“It is an arrestable offense. I want to make that clear, okay? Where you were on the tracks is an arrestable offense,” one cop could be heard saying.
“We’re 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,” another officer noted. “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.”
Exclusive Reporting
Gabriel is scheduled to appear in New Rochelle City Court on July 31. In a letter to Westchester Assistant District Attorney Amanda Greene, who is the prosecutor on the case, obtained by TMZ, Sunny argued her son mistakenly entered the property while out for a jog after spotting what appeared to be a gravel incline suitable for hill training. She claimed the entrance gate was open and the only “No Trespassing” sign was not visible when he entered.
While the Hostins maintain Gabriel was out for a run that evening, questions have been raised about exactly what he was up to given the area the incident occurred in. On Wednesday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn revealed her team spoke to a source at the New Rochelle Police Department who shed some additional light on the location.
“New Rochelle PD tells us… that jogging near the train tracks in that area of New Rochelle is not common… that wooded areas and an Amtrak track are nearby, but this is not a typical route for pedestrians or joggers… He said it is not a place that the average person would end up unless they deliberately climbed onto the tracks. He said he does not know why this individual was in this location, noting the area is clearly marked and difficult to access as well,” Megyn reported.
Additionally, Megyn said the department source noted it is “uncommon for people to end up on the tracks and, when it happens, it’s more often homeless individuals. He said the entrance ramps in the area are not near residential blocks, and that there are not really sidewalks along these ramps, describing the area as not a typical jogging route, though nearby side streets are used for jogging.”
Likely Punishment
Megyn’s guests Dave Aronberg and Matt Murphy are both former prosecutors who agreed the only reason this situation made news is because of how the Hostins chose to handle it.
“In this case, the police seemed to handle it well. I mean, they downgraded to that citation where it wouldn’t be a criminal charge… because he was cooperative and he has had no prior record,” Aronberg explained. “I think that the police handled it normally. I think Sunny Hostin… in retrospect, wishes she did not act like that because it was caught on those body cams and no one wants someone who is a celebrity to invoke privilege to get their kid out of a situation.”
Murphy said the punishment in a situation like this is usually pretty straightforward. “This [case] just kind of screams out like a diversion thing – he… pays some money for the victims’ restitution fund, finishes whatever the diversionary class would be, and just gets it dismissed. That is the way I would see a case like this being handled just on a regular, everyday thing,” he noted.
“The goal [of the prosecutor] is to do justice and one of the challenges on this one, I think, is to make sure that nobody goes heavier on him or lighter on him because of who his mother is, or who his father is, or who anybody is,” Murphy added. “It’s very important to treat him like you would treat anybody else that came across your desk.”
It remains to be seen if that is the route the DA goes, but Megyn said the takeaway for the mother-son duo is clear. “You just don’t manipulate a police officer like that. You can defend yourself in court on the merits or not or just pay the fine, but you don’t try to play those cards while in your day job you’re ripping on everybody else’s privilege all day,” she concluded. “It’s just completely hypocritical.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Aronberg and Murphy by tuning in to episode 1,365 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.