‘The View’ Host Clashes with Cops After Son Caught Trespassing

Sunny Hostin may spend her days grilling public figures on The View, but newly released police body cam footage shows the liberal TV host in a very different kind of heated exchange — this time with officers citing her son for alleged trespassing.

The footage, released by police and obtained by TMZ, shows Hostin’s son, Gabriel Hostin, being cited after authorities said he was found on active railroad tracks in New York during a run. The encounter quickly escalated when Sunny arrived on the scene and began arguing with officers on her son’s behalf.

In the video, Sunny and Gabriel explain that he had been out running when he spotted what looked like a gravel incline that could be used for hill training. Gabriel said a gate was open and claimed he did not see a no trespassing sign before heading onto the property.

But officers said the area was private property and part of active railroad tracks, making the situation more serious than a simple neighborhood mistake.

At one point in the body cam footage, Gabriel is seen in handcuffs while speaking with Sunny on the phone. Police also released a photo of the gate Gabriel said was open, along with the no trespassing sign he said he did not notice.

Sunny, a former federal prosecutor and attorney, appeared to press officers hard as she defended her son. Almost immediately, she brought up Gabriel’s background, telling police he had just graduated from Harvard and describing him as an upstanding young man who teaches fourth-grade geometry.

She also reminded officers of her own legal background as a former federal prosecutor, appearing to suggest the incident was being blown out of proportion.

The argument came after Gabriel allegedly wandered onto the tracks last month while jogging in the area. Sunny told officers the family had moved there within the past year and said her son was still learning the neighborhood, which she claimed explained the mistake.

The View co-host is now representing Gabriel in the case herself. According to TMZ, she previously sent a letter to the district attorney asking prosecutors to drop the charge, arguing there was no visible no trespassing sign at the entrance to the incline and that her son had made an “honest mistake” by assuming it was an open area.

Still, the newly released footage is likely to draw fresh attention to the case, especially given Hostin’s public reputation as a tough-on-others legal commentator who often weighs in on accountability, privilege, and justice from the daytime talk show table.

For critics, the video may raise uncomfortable questions about whether a regular jogger without a famous mother, a Harvard degree, or a former prosecutor arguing on his behalf would receive the same sympathetic explanation.

Gabriel is scheduled to appear in court on July 31.