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I participated in the Critical Mass bike ride on the Friday before the 2004 RNC Convention. Reports stated that about 260 riders were arrested in that ride. Yet most of the arrests occurred when the ride was OVER. There were approximately 4000-5000 people participating, and the ride ended outside of St. Marks on the Bowery Church on 2nd Ave/ 10th st. There was an event at the church that many people in the ride planned to attend. Consequently, although the ride was over, the streets were still packed. It should be noted that up until this ride, the police has ALWAYS condoned and even facilitated Critical Mass rides. Until the end, this ride was mostly free from arrests too (other than Herald Sqr). Instead of practicing crowd control to help safely disperse the crowd, as would occur at any concert or sporting event, the police decided to start violently grabbing and throwing people off their bikes. The police were also kicking and beating dozens of people, unprovoked. I was 10 feet away from this and barely got away, as there was almost no way to get quickly move out of the street due to so many people being there. I was almost arrested even though I attempting to comply with orders from the officer directing me to get out of the street. Luckily I was able to plead with her, that my grandfather was a NYPD detective. Several people a few feet in front of me were grabbed, thrown to the ground and not so lucky. This police misconduct and brutality was never adequately reported.

wnyc and brian were part of the cause of pollice brutality at the 2004 RN. because they refused to report it.

As a neighborhood senior citizen I saw many peaceable demonstrators injured on 8th Ave by police who came running into the marchers without warning ramming their way with metal gates, and i was subsequently injured myself by police in plainclothes deliberately ramming their scooters into people on 8th Ave shortly before the incident where one demonstrator struck back, which i saw from a short distance away.

I informed the wnyc reporter on scene and later emailed brian about it but brian continued to suppress the facts to misreport the scene in ways that made the police look good.

no wonder the mayor shows such affection for brian and wnyc contrasting with his anger at tnytimes.

Love your show.I am working for 3years for a BIG company hired as a full time employee without any benefits.I am over 50 and have not seen a dr in years. I will see why a small comp
cannot affort it, but a huge well known comp, who was reporting profits will not cover all employees ? No way I can afford buyng health care on one income,I work as a medical biller so I am all familiar with these issue.

I tried.....

Evidently, even when edited to less than 1500 characters per page; your system still truncates.

If anyone wants to read what I just spent a half hour writing on this; feel free to send me an email at unboughtandunbossed@gmail.com

Part 3

I would have no problem if all cops earned 100K TO START!!! If that meant that they were indeed to most morally, intellectually, physically, ethically and emotionally fit amongst us!!!

Bottom lines: The way we are fighting this "war on terrorism" is so stupid/insane/wasteful/incompetent that it, perversely, can only inflame the hatreds and insanity that already exist in the world.

What this truly all boils down to is a struggle between the forces of hate/fear vs those of love/courage.

It takes real guts to truly do the right thing; going "along with the program" is the cowardly way.

Really living up to the standards and values put forth in our Constitution requires courage, conviction and a brand of GENUINE patriotism that is all too rare these days.

May God bless American's with the guts to fearlessly preserve and protect the Constitution so that "justice and liberty for all" becomes a reality and not just an empty slogan.

Part 2

What gets me is that these cops, if you asked them point blank would claim to be patriotic law abiding Americans who love their country and hold what the Nazis did as abhorrent.

What they can't or won't understand is that every time they themselves, in effect, urinate on the Constitution; that they themselves are the threat to our national security and that they themselves are acing like terrorists and that they themselves are acting as if "they hate our freedoms".

The technology exists NOW to attach a seven ounce camera (shock and water resistant) with audio that can digitally record 12 hours straight (with 8gb sd flash memory). Everything a cop sees, says, does while on duty needs to be preserved for at least a year.

We already live in the age of big brother. The only defense against it is to actually turn the cameras back on big brother himself and to hold each individual law enforcement officer 100% accountable for everything they do on duty. (Ironically, we're after that standard for cabbies but not cops!)

Good cops doing their jobs righteously would have absolutely nothing to fear. In fact, such a system would help them enormously in obtaining convictions when they actually arrest guilty people.

If this means that only the best and brightest amongst us become qualified for police work; then that's great! Let the job be considered the pinnacle of citizenship AND let it be compensated as such!!!

Part 3 follows

The fellow who called in at the end strongly defending the police actions wants us to be grateful and thankful that things have improved since the "60's" when the TPF (Tactical Police Force) was routinely sent out in the hundreds to "beat the living ****" out of nonviolent innocent protesters.

He insisted that we should look at "the big picture" and "perspective".

I bet that if that fellow was ever arrested by a cop for no good reason, and detained in horrible conditions and verbally abused......and that then when video evidence demonstrating that became available; I bet that he would want to see the cops that did that to him (or his wife/children/parents) prosecuted!

What have we come to when the police want us to be thankful that they aren't bashing in our heads for no reason!!!????!!!

What's needed is a FEDERAL BUREAU OF POLICE INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION!!!

Clearly local prosecutors will never ever prosecute a cop for anything unless there is 110% iron clad video evidence......and even with that they find ways to weasel around it with all manner of lies/cleverly concocted professionally vetted cover stories.

Part 2 follows

I'm a 29 year old freelance graphic designer who makes $75,000 to 85,000 a year but when I look into paying for insurance even through the Freelancers Union I just couldn't make myself do it. The occasional nice dinner out seems to take precedent. I recently, finally got a domestic partnership with my girlfriend so I can now get on her insurance. The best part was visiting the city hall marriage license office, very entertaining. Thanks. Love the show.

Maddox is right. When reporters get treated like demonstrators, their reporting improves.

During the 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago, there were demonstrations against the Vietnam war. Not only did the Chicago police beat up the demonstrators, they also beat up the reporters, who had previously enjoyed immunity.

Best of all, Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, got beaten up by the cops. Hefner said that the experience made him realize (unlike GWB) that he was too sheltered in his Playboy mansion and should be more concerned about what was going on in the world. Shortly after that, Playboy had a cover with a Playmate dressed as a hippie with two fingers in a peace sign.

For such a great reporter, Dwyer is amazingly inarticulate.

Lehrer did a great job letting that guy Ed shill for the cops for 15 minutes.

Bloomberg is a great mayor, if you like the idea of arresting people for riding bikes and letting bureaucrats and businessment get off scot-free for their crimes, especially those that result in actual deaths

Our nephew from Cornell attended a demonstration. He saw a woman who was being roughly treated by police and pulled out a camera to take a picture - maybe not smart. He was handcuffed, placed in a van, and driven around for hours. His camera was broken because it fell to the pavement. His wrists were swollen and raw from the cuffs. He won his lawsuit.

Spot on, Maddox!

I think we can safely say that "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" has been greatly diminished and is approaching the realm of a "privilege" to be granted or withheld by the powers that be.

NYC's actions during the anti-war marches and protests in early '03, what was done during the Republican Convention, and the now nearly accepted "free speech pens" are examples of what has been happening. Plus, in some other cities, there have been even worse examples of state power used against those practicing their Constitutional Bill of Rights freedoms.

Can anyone here imagine a Rudy presidency and its effects on our freedoms and rights??? I even wonder about some of the Dem candidates when it comes to a growing sense of authoritarianism among those who gain power.

Shudder....

has anyone said anything about the big holding center on a pier where people were taken and held for days without legal representation, phones, food or water?

Yes, I agree with Ed.

The art of being a cop is knowing WHICH innocent people to arrest.

What the political victims are arguing, is they were actually treated like every one else.

I marched on the Republicans that week and was not arrested.

But, I experienced much of what they did in routine matters with racial, but not political overtones:

Purgery, filthy conditions, long-time held without charges, blaming innocents for aleged crimes of others, accusations of being in the wrong neighborhoods, etc.

I am a white male and all the officers were also white males. I was not convicted of any crime, but paid a fine for things I did not do.

It's important for people to realize that this sort of police harassment is still happening consistently, every month, on the Critical Mass group bike ride.

We invite bikers and non-bikers to come to Union Square at 7pm the last Friday of every month, including tomorrow, so they can see themselves the mass police presence, unjust arrests and ticketing, possible undercovers, police videotaping innocent bicycle riders and tax-payers money being wasted

not only was i an eyewitness at the library (one of the most surreal things i've ever seen, btw) i was an eyewitness at the scooter incident near herald square. it's sad that anyone was injured there, but it must be said that the cop who drove that scooter into the crowd there committed the single most dangerous and reckless act i saw all week. i say that as someone who employed three camera crews to cover the convention and has about 120 hours of footage from the scene.

that cop should have been arrested himself. period.

Please folks do whatever it takes to keep/make this story national to stop this fascist Bloomberg from advancing his political sleaze to the presidential scene.

I was arrested on the Friday, as I was riding my bike. I was riding in Critical Mass and was following police direction, and as I was following the police directions and the corraled us into the street and arrested every one of us (around 150 people). When I asked my arresting officer why I was being arrested, he said " I don't know"
I was held for 30 hours and verbally bullied by officers. It was when I realized that our rights as citizens are no longer regarded, and there is no consequence for those who disregard them.
As one of the officers said to me "Isn't this what you wanted (being arrested)? You know, fighting for your rights...(as they laughed at me).
I accepted an ACD because I was told by my appointed lawyer, if i plead innocent, if the judge was in a bad mood, I could spend 2 weeks and jail.

Mention was made that at a demonstration at Fulton Street the policeman listed as the arresting officer was not present at the scene. This is not a new kind of occurrence. In 1968, when students took over buildings at universities all over the country, I was arrested at Columbia University on the upper west side of Manhattan. It later emerged that the officer listed as having arrested me was on duty in Brooklyn at the time. He must have had magical powers to have been in two places at once. This was only a minor abuse. There were many much worse ones.

Brian, when you laud the police for "no violent behaviour," or some language to that effect: I wonder what your reaction would be if it were *your* liberty that was taken away for 24 or 36 hours. I actually value my liberty and consider the cavalier denial of it to be, yes, violent. In other circumstances, it's called "kidnapping," and, yes, considered a violent crime.

My guess is that, had you been deprived of your liberty for 36 hours for simply standing on your hometown, you might not think it such a trivial thing.

The cops who violated the constitution that day were, themselves, LAW BREAKERS and should have been held criminally responsible.

If anyone else "detained" someone against their will it would be considered kidnapping!!!

My GOD what does it take to have criminal charges filed agains cops who break the law and then lie about it under oath ON VIDEO!!!

The fat that the charges are later dismissed and the victims may get a few dollars in "compensation" means nothing to the cops who got off scott free/with impunity for violating the very laws they are sworn to uphold and the constitution they are sworn to protect!!!

Cops need to fear the consequences of breaking the laws just like everyone else!!! Otherwise we live in a POLICE STATE!!!!!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;

or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

why the euphemisms everywhere we look! "level of inaccuracy" they are plainly lying,it's time we start calling things by its name

Yes, if the police were caught by videotape lying in sworn statements, why aren't they being prosecuted for perjury?

Bloomberg's "I'm The Decider" behavior during the 04 RNC convention (which includes encouraging police arrogance and their own unbased fears) instantly became his equivalent to those in congress who voted in 03 to absolve their duties and allow Bush to sent troops to Iraq.

Every good thing Bloomberg has done since then -- from trying to reduce NYC's pollution output to trying to solve confoundingly frustrating behavior by low-income New Yorkers such as not sending their kids to school -- I view as his penance.

Because nobody died during the RNC as a result of his unAmerican, little dictator behavior -- should he run for president I would accept that penance.

are the police being penalized in any way for lying and purjuring themselves in these cases?

Jim, Brian:

Shouldn't there be more scrutiny of Mayor Bloomberg, the police commissioner and the state Republican party as they were supposedly 'prepared' to handle thousands of arrests. It's clear that these arrests were preemtive and were meant to intimidate people from protesting during the convention. This was a misuse of taxpayer resources ( police officers and tax dollars) in order to silence political speech. The people arrested were conveniently held without a hearing long enough until the end of the convention.
QUESTIONS:
(1) Shouldn't the Mayor and the Republican party reimburse the City for the public resources used for their political advancement?
(2) How much of the City's money has been used so far in these lawsuits?
Thank you