Shellyne Rodriguez smirks, sports ‘FTP’ tattoo after being charged over machete threat
The manic Manhattan arts professor who held a machete to a Post reporter’s neck and threatened to “chop” him up flashed a brazen smile Thursday after law enforcement sources say she was slapped with harassment and menacing charges.
A smirking Shellyne Rodriguez, 45, held her head high as she was escorted out of the 43rd Precinct in the Bronx in handcuffs just after 11 a.m. — several hours after turning herself in over Tuesday’s caught-on-camera ordeal.
The professor had her slew of tattoos on full display, including “FTP” (for “F–k the police”) inked on her fingers, as well as an image of brass knuckles and the boxing term “southpaw” scrawled across her hand.
Earlier, Rodriguez had worn black sunglasses and was flanked by a handful of supporters as she walked into the precinct to surrender to cops.
Rodriguez’s arrest follows Tuesday’s shocking chain of events, which unfolded when the veteran Post reporter knocked on her apartment door to ask her about viral footage of her cursing out Hunter College pro-life students.
“Get the f–k away from my door, or I’m gonna chop you up with this machete,” the unhinged professor screamed before barging out with the blade.
After the reporter and a photographer quickly exited the apartment building, dashcam video showed Rodriguez — still armed with the machete — chasing them down the street.“If I see you on this block one more f–king time, you’re gonna …,” Rodriguez said.
“Get the f–k off the block! Get the f–k out of here, yo!”
She then kicked the reporter in his shins before retreating back into her building.
Rodriguez was fired by Hunter College in the wake of the ordeal, while the School of Visual Arts — where she also worked as a professor — was reviewing her employment as of Wednesday.
Follow The Post’s latest coverage on Shellyne Rodriguez
- NYC professor Shellyne Rodriguez turns herself in to cops after threatening Post reporter with machete
- Fired NYC professor Shellyne Rodriguez says she’s the victim after machete threat
- Shellyne Rodriguez, NYC college professor who threatened Post reporter with machete, is fired as her lawsuit against NYPD emerges
- Shellyne Rodriguez, NYC professor who held machete to Post reporter’s neck, organized ‘f–k cops’ march
The saga came after Rodriguez had made headlines earlier in the week when footage surfaced online showing her unleashing a profanity-laden attack on anti-abortion students at Hunter College on May 2.
“You’re not educating s–t. This is f–king propaganda,” the art professor told students as they stood behind an information table they’d set up.
“What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next?” she continued before tossing the students’ pamphlets on the floor.
In the wake of her machete threat, it emerged that Rodriguez is suing the NYPD for allegedly abusing her during the 2020 George Floyd protests and has previously organized a string of anti-cop protests in the Bronx, which led to mass arrests.
Rodriguez, who is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, claims she suffered nerve damage from being zip-tied when she was nabbed and put in a prisoner van with 14 other protesters.
The professor helped organize several “FTP” protests in the Bronx in the aftermath of Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis cops.
“’FTP’ stands for many things, including ‘Free the People,’ ‘Feed the People,’ and, in the context of certain anti-police protests, ‘F–k the Police,’” her lawsuit against the NYPD says.
