Photographers, journalists & friends file suit against the NYPD.

Manhattan, NY - Four New York lawmakers and several journalists have filed a 143-page federal lawsuit detailing alleged constitutional violations aimed at suppressing the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The New York City Police Department needs court-ordered monitoring because more than half a billion dollars in civil penalties and existing oversight groups have failed to reign in police abuses, according to the complaint.

Lawmakers behind the suit include New York City council members Ydanis Rodriguez, Jumaane Williams, Letitia James and Melissa Mark-Viverito. Democratic District Leader Paul Newell, Iraq War veteran Jeffrey McClain, photographer Stephanie Keith, and eight citizen journalists also filed the case.

New York City, Deputy Inspector Edward Winski, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are named as defendants.

 From the beginning of the movement, Occupy Wall Street has tried to call attention to the number of public areas in New York City that are privately owned, and those owners have allegedly tried to chase the movement off their properties.

 Some of these owners named in the suit include realtor Brookfield Office Properties, owner of Zuccotti Park; Mitsui Fudusan America, deed-holder of 100 Williams Street; and J.P. Morgan Chase, which owns One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

 The lengthy complaint begins with an overview of the Nov. 15, 2011, raid that dismantled the original Occupy Wall Street encampments at Zuccotti Park, rebranded by protesters as Liberty Square.

 Councilman Rodriguez said he arrived at the park near the barricades at 2 a.m. to observe the raid and got tackled by an officer in riot gear. He says that Time Magazine ran a picture of the alleged attack until New York City officials requested that the magazine pull the image.

 His colleagues on city council say they, and the press at large, were also restrained from observing the raids.

 One subsection of the enormous complaint says, "NYPD Misconduct Can Be Examined in Microcosm by Reviewing the NYPD's Treatment of the Occupy Movement."

The plaintiffs point to the alleged abuses against the movement as reason the NYPD needs oversight, in general. They say that the Internal Affairs Bureau, Civilian Complaint Review Board and the city's Commission to Combat Police Corruption have not reached that goal.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/01/46135.htm Pictures of Ydanis Rodriguez being arrested by the NYPD:
http://www.uptowncollective.com/2011/12/28/uptown-2011-movers-shakers-ydanis-rodriguez-a-man-of-the-people/

Council members, protesters and journalists seek federal monitor for New York City police dep't.
http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/council-members-protesters-and-journalists-seek-federal-monitor-new-

Police precinct fair game for protest, activists say.

Manhattan, NY- Two Christian ministers and a U.S. Navy veteran testified Wednesday with others against their arrests for protesting stop-and-frisk tactics in front of a Harlem police precinct.

Organized through Occupy Wall Street, the Oct. 21, 2011, protest in front of the 28th Precinct in Harlem resulted in the arrests of 34 activists, including Princeton University Professor Cornel West.
Prosecutors believe that, whatever their intentions, the activists broke the law.

But the defendants say there is no evidence that they blocked the precinct's entrance or obstructed pedestrians.

Judge Robert Mandelbaum reserved decision on the Wednesday motion to dismiss all charges, opting to have the defendants testify.

The Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, who heads the St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem, took the stand first. A prosecutor objected as Kooperkamp started to tell the story of a young choir member stopped by police while traveling between two jobs.

Though prosecutors tried to steer the testimony away from political beliefs, Kooperkamp used every opportunity to condemn stop and frisk repeatedly as "racist and immoral."

To prove disorderly conduct, prosecutors must show "intent to cause public inconvenience, disruption or alarm."

Under that standard, the prosecutors tried to use the activists' willingness to be arrested for civil disobedience against them during cross-examination.

Assistant District Attorney Langston grilled Carl Dix, who issued one of the calls for the protest, about an article he wrote for the Huffington Post before the October protest titled "Why I Am Getting Arrested Today."

Dix said he has written many similar articles before different demonstrations and considers himself a constant target for arrest because of his race and his activism.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/03/46209.htm

Stop-and-Frisk protesters fined for disorderly conduct.

Manhattan, NY - Twenty activists, including Princeton University Professor Cornel West, were convicted of disorderly conduct for their protest at a Harlem police precinct last October.

Though prosecutors argued that the defendants should face the consequences of civil disobedience, defense attorneys said the activists should never have been arrested because they never obstructed pedestrians at the precinct. Video of the demonstration showed officers passing by the throng to enter and exit the station.

But Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum said the video showed an impermissible barrier and ordered each defendant to pay a $120 surcharge without facing jail.

One of the defendants, Sade Adona of Occupy Wall Street Radio, will face two days of community service after being threatened with contempt of court during a heated cross-examination.

The protest was part of an Occupy Wall Street demonstration against stop-and-frisk policing, which has been besieged with reports of racially discriminatory profiling.

In an address to the judge, Professor West said he stood next to his co-defendants with a "deep sense of joy."

"You did the best that you could based on your conception of justice," West said.

After sentencing concluded, a former prosecutor from the Boston area stood up, pronounced the activists innocent, and sat toward the front of the courtroom peacefully with his hands behind his head.

"Your Honor, I refuse to leave this court," Bobby Constantino said. "I am choosing in peace and love not to leave this court."

Police arrested the protesters because their demonstration could have prevented crime and accident victims from entering the precinct, Langston said. He rejected the defense's argument that the activists would have let anyone through the "symbolic" blockage of the precinct door.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/04/46262.htm

Princeton University Professor Cornel West brings calm to rowdy trial.

Manhattan, NY. - Princeton University Professor Cornel West brought calm and reflection Thursday May 3, 2012 to the end of witness testimony in a contentious trial over a protest at a Harlem police precinct.

Occupy Wall Street endorsed an Oct. 21, 2011 protest in front of the 28th Precinct to oppose stop-and-frisk policing. The rally ended in disorderly conduct arrests of 34 protesters.

About a dozen made plea deals that would have their charges expunged if they were not arrested for 6 months.

Nearly 20 others took the witness stand this week to testify that the police orders they were accused of defying were unlawful.

Prosecutors said the protestors should accept the consequences of civil disobedience, but the protesters insist they did not break any laws.

Tensions ran high throughout the four-day trial.

In addition to security at the Manhattan Criminal Court entrance, officers set up an additional checkpoint outside the courtroom and forced those without press or other credentials to leave their electronics behind. Once inside, officers often shouted "Quiet down!" or "Stop that!" to subdue laughter, talking and gesturing from the pews.

One of his co-defendants, John Jay College Professor Jim Vrettos, said that he understood from his professional work as a criminologist that many police officers resent the pressure they face to participate in stop-and-frisks.

Not all of the witnesses were so conciliatory.

Earlier Thursday, co-defendant Matthew Swaye, a schoolteacher in Harlem, compared Capt. Williams to the commander of a modern-day "slave patrol."

But Swaye denied he was "furious" with the police, as prosecutor Lee Langston had suggested.
Swaye said that he felt less fury than "sadness" at seeing his students subjected to searches, while white men such as he were rarely targeted.

"Every day in Harlem, my pink skin is my passport," he said.

 He said the topic was taboo in his school.

"Stop and frisk is not on the standardized tests, so it doesn't get discussed," he said.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/04/46242.htm