Posted on 09/10/2004 10:54:56 AM PDT by presidio9
Mayor Bloomberg says the city "acted appropriately" while arresting and holding thousands of people during the Republican convention. I beg to differ. I wasn't even a demonstrator - I was going for a drink with a friend when I was arrested - and my experience tells a different story. It was Tuesday, Aug. 31, about 8:30 p.m. when my friend and I saw a lot of cops running on 26th St., then up Park Ave. South.
I saw a man being handcuffed who said he had done nothing. The cop was using a lot of force, and I asked him not to hurt the man. As I tried to call a friend to take photos of this injustice, a cop ordered my arrest. I was cuffed and thrown on the sidewalk with several other people. After about 20 minutes, I heard an officer say they needed five women. There were many men next to me, but only four other females. I made five. Quota for that streetcorner, I suppose.
We were loaded onto a bus and driven to Pier 57. There was a long line of buses ahead of us, and as we waited one man became very sick. He had Crohn's disease, and his colostomy bag had burst. He was throwing up all over the back of the bus. We all begged the cops to get him medical attention. They ignored us. We asked that he be let off the bus first. Again, they ignored us.
A group of us were locked in one of the many barbed-wire-enclosed cells. Women had to sit or lie on the filthy black pavement, only to be covered in soot. Some broke out in rashes. There were no mats or blankets, and fans were blowing directly on us. We asked that they to be turned off because we were freezing. The police refused.
Around noon on Wednesday, I was put aboard a bus for the Centre St. jail. A young woman was screaming that her wrists hurt and yelling at an officer to stop touching her. She was trying to loosen her cuffs because of her hypoglycemic condition. Instead, her cuffs were tightened, and she was locked in the bus' solitary confinement section. We all pleaded with the officer to loosen her cuffs because her wrists were turning blue. We were ignored.
The Centre St. holding area was another experience. At one point, we counted to see how many of us were in the 20-by-25-foot cell: 105 of us! We could barely move. Good luck trying to cross the room to use the toilet - which, by the way, had no door so you had to urinate in front of 105 strangers. I asked for some Tylenol for a migraine headache. I was told they did not give meds.
I didn't stay in that cell, though. We were moved constantly and randomly. There was much confusion on the part of the officers, who did not seem to know what was going on themselves. There seemed no rhyme or reason for what was called "being processed."
Early Thursday morning - about my 36th hour - our fingerprints were taken, but only after an officer sprayed our hands with Windex and then scrubbed them to take off the pier dirt.
Back to the cell. Although we told the police that several women, including myself, suffered from asthma, they sprayed the poorly ventilated cell with Lysol. I made yet another plea for painkillers. It fell on deaf ears.
A few hours later, we had mug shots taken. Afterward, an officer asked how I was. I said I had a severe migraine and back pain and needed painkillers. He handed me two Tylenols. Outrageous, after being told there were none in the building.
About 5 p.m., I was put in a cell next to the court. I asked for a lawyer but was advised to take the ACD (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal) that was being offered. I was down for parading without a permit and two counts of disorderly conduct - little 5-feet-3 me, who had just tried to do the right thing and help a guy out.
If I chose to plead not guilty, I was told, there was no knowing when I would get out of jail. The judge clearly wanted everyone out and not clogging the system with "not guilty" pleas.
At 7:30 p.m., 47 hours after my arrest, a judge told me that as long as I am "good" for the next six months my case will be sealed and dismissed. I guess that means don't walk down the streets of New York. And do not try to help strangers.
Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but what happened to me, and what I saw happening to others, was not "appropriate." And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
I have no doubt most of the posters on this site would have been Tories.
They don't like the Constitution now, I can only imagine what they'd have thought of it when it was first proposed.
Interesting article. Means little. I was there. Of course these people are going to all complain that they were wrongfully arrested. It is the easiest defense, and it is not worth the City's time or money to investigate and prosecute each case. Nobody was pounced upon while innocently exiting a subway. The police ordered the demonstrators to disperse. Some onlookers who were not part of the original protest became part of the mob. When the police got tired of telling the mob to disperse, the arrests began. At any point up until the last moment, everyone simply had the option of simply walking away. The point that you are missing is that these people were not arrested for what they were saying, or even for protesting in general, but for causing a disturbance. By joining into that disturbance, they so-called innocents were just as guilty, whether they were holding a sign or not. Maybe you have to live in NYC to understand how easily this can happen.
You really don't think it happened at all?
And I have no problem believing police arrested people for photographing them. I've seen them do it with my own eyes. They really don't like to be photographed.
And I thought Torquemada was tough. This "humanitarian" was simply wandering about with a camera and just happened to bump into an "innocent" being arrested. The poor soul wasn't "doing anything" and those mean old pleecmun just roughed him up. (I used to teach in a prison and,coincidentally, the school motto there was also "I wasn't doin' nuthin'".) This poor mistreated protestor had fans blowing on her, and the ladies' toilet was not AAA approved. People got dirty! They had to wait for processing! Oh the humanity! This episode is very, very distressing to me. I just thank God that nobody had to wear underwear on their heads...
There is a difference between police brutality and being housed in less than ideal conditions. Anybody who wanted to avoid such conditions had the opportunity of walking away at any time.
Honestly, you can't say you were "there" when "there" included dozens of places all around the city (some far from MSG) over the course of several days.
And thanks to Post 47 (by Buckhead), it was all for nothing! Bwahahahahahaha!!!!
Again, the arrest was not for "photographing." The arrest was for failing to dispand when ordered to do so by the people we pay to enforce our laws. I don't deny that the woman undoubtedly drew attention to herself by taking the pictures. I call that stupidity.
Moma always said stay away from alcohol..."de devil libs in dat bot'l".
Trust me, this is nothing new in NYC. There were no Sam Adamses in these crowds.
I call it accountability.
So why has this savagely beaten wrongfully arrested prisoner not step forward? Sounds like a pretty good story to me. Answer: She is making the whole thing up.
I thought it was only appropriate for the leftest loser that was the subject of the article
I was also in Boston during your convention. There is no comparison between the two. Hundreds of thousands of nutjobs and gullible followers did their best to shut down the city here. The NYPD did a magnificent job containing them.
It's the timing, that I question
BUSH/CHENEY IN 2004
Have you ever been arrested? Jails are intentionally unpleasant places. They are designed to act as a deterrent to unlawful behavior. Hopefully these did their job and some of these idiots will think twice next time they are ordered to disperse by a law enforcement official. But somehow I doubt it.
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