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October 18, 1998 story on Mr. Goldstein from the Hartford Courant:
STATE MAN SEEKS ASYLUM IN SWEDEN;
AN ACTIVIST CLAIMS HIS EFFORTS TO START A CIVILIAN REVIEW BOARD FOR POLICE IGNITED A CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT, BUT SWEDISH AUTHORITIES HAVE DENIED HIS REQUEST.

It sounds like one of those "News of the Weird" column items: A Connecticut man is hiding in Sweden, where he seeks asylum, because he thinks U.S. police are out to get him.

The things is, it's true. The asylum part anyway.

Richard "Ritt" Goldstein, 47, became the first American in years to apply for asylum when he moved to Sweden last year. He said his activism in pushing for a statewide civilian review board for police resulted in daily harassment from police in Connecticut and other states.

Goldstein's asylum request was rejected by the Swedes last month, and since then he has been living a refugee's life, supported by private citizens and European human rights groups.

"I live underground," he said, during a phone interview Friday. "The thing is, very fortunately, there are those who looked at the work I had done and looked at the overwhelming evidence that I brought with me. Initially, there was a little skepticism, but here, unlike other places, they were not burdened by believing it can't happen. . . . Law enforcement wasn't a sacred cow to them."

Whether Goldstein is characterized as a kook making false claims or a legitimate poster boy for the crusade against police brutality depends on who is doing the talking.

Just last week, Amnesty International launched a new campaign calling attention to human rights abuses within the United States, citing "widespread and persistent" police brutality as one of the top problems.

Former Norwalk Mayor William Collins said Goldstein had a strong commitment to his work, which included arranging a hearing at the state capitol last year on forming a statewide police review board.

Goldstein also headed a group called the Standing Committee on Law Enforcement Development. "I found him very dedicated to his cause, which I supported very strongly," Collins said.

Connecticut police don't share that view.

Goldstein has made harassment complaints to several police departments, including Danbury, Norwalk, Wethersfield and Cromwell. His complaints date back to the 1980s, when his activism began.

The complaints seem to have a pattern: Goldstein told police his car or home or self was sprayed by chemicals or pepper spray, usually by someone in plain clothes that he was sure was a police officer.

His complaints were investigated, but police say the investigations led nowhere because Goldstein failed to provide promised witnesses, or wouldn't come in to meet with police.

"We investigated what we could," said Lt. John Salvatore of the Wethersfield Police Department. "We were not able to substantiate any of the claims."

Cromwell police arrested Goldstein in April 1997 for making a false report, in which he alleged that police used pepper spray on him at a local Super Stop & Shop.

Cromwell Police Capt. Thomas Roohr said investigators found no one who could remember seeing Goldstein at the market, or encountering pepper spray, a highly irritating substance.

Goldstein maintains that he passed a lie detector test in the Cromwell incident. But a warrant is now out for his arrest because he failed to show up in court.

Goldstein said he moved out of his Danbury apartment into various hotels across the state because he couldn't take the harassment. He moved to Sweden when he could no longer take the drain on his health.

"The harassment was off the scale," he said. "It's the kind of things you don't expect in America."

He said he never filed lawsuits in Connecticut against the police because an attorney told him such suits are impossible to win.

In Sweden, his case attracted attention when a letter on his behalf, signed by high-ranking clergy, ran in a Swedish newspaper. Legal experts also felt his case may have repercussions for the few immigrants from stable Western democracies who apply each year for asylum to a country within the European Union.

Goldstein's attorney in Sweden, Robert Camerini, said Goldstein was denied asylum because of his country of origin.

"It's my judgment it was denied not on the merits of what was presented, but because he was American," Camerini said. "If Goldstein had come from a Third World nation, then I think it would have been another question."

The Swedish government considers the United States a stable democracy with human rights groups of its own, groups that can help citizens with police complaints, said Nina Ersman, spokeswoman for the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Gunnar Sommarin, spokesman for Sweden's Alien Appeals Board, said whatever harassment Goldstein encountered did not seem state-sponsored. He said it was now up to the Swedish police to deport Goldstein.

As far as the U.S. government is concerned, Goldstein may apply for asylum in other countries or renounce his citizenship if he chooses.

Unless he needs to be extradited for a major crime, the government doesn't much care what he does, said Marie Rudensky, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the U.S. State Department.

"In our eyes, his status remains the same," she said.

In Sweden, Goldstein has exhausted his appeals. He has no plans to return to the United States, where he feels no one can help him, at any level of government.

He said his next recourse may be the European Court of Justice. In the meantime, he continues to live in Sweden.

"Hopefully, things will change here," he said. "You can't fool all of the people all of the time."