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Comments

• [1] rick from brooklyn February 25, 2008 - 11:15AM

  you don't believe uncorroborated police testimony? what's wrong with you? a bunch of black kids in brooklyn- it MUST be gang activity.

  these statutes they are talking about are pretty specious...disorderly conduct charges are often thrown out. it's a kind of catch all when you have nothing else to charge them with. remember the 2004 RNC? almost all of them were thrown out. the way the stated the Unlawful Assembly statute sound s unconstitutionally vague on its face....

  
  
• [2] Steve from Manhattan February 25, 2008 - 11:15AM

  So in one of the most camera-laden cities in the world - still and video - we're to believe that there's no such evidence?

  
  
• [3] hjs from 11211 February 25, 2008 - 11:19AM

  a NYC mayor once read a sealed juvi record to the media several years later, after the police killed him. i suppose as a justification.

  
  
• [4] sarah from Williamsburg February 25, 2008 - 11:20AM

  This culture of the police versus the public is really reaching a crisis point. These kids need to not be treated exactly as they expect to be treated, to be targeted because of where they live and what they look like. Give them a chance. I wonder if a majority of cops didn't get into their own teenage trouble when they were young.

  
  
• [5] Hal from Crown Heights February 25, 2008 - 11:23AM

  Cops earn overtime by making questionable arrests at the end of their shifts.

  This common practice is known as "collars for dollars".

  
  
• [6] Will from http://onnyturf.com February 25, 2008 - 11:40AM

  If the DA is so confident in the police evidence then drop the bogus "Unlawful Assembly" charge. He aught to have real crimes and evidence for those crimes, like vandalism. The parade permit regulation is being abused just as suspected it would be. It is a catch all that criminalizes a group walking together. If the DA won't drop the unlawful assembly then you know he really has no cases what so ever.

  The woman also falsely characterized the unlawful assembly regulation. It says nothing about posing a hazard or danger to traffic. It says that any "recognizable group" of 50 or more more requires a permit, or are subject to arrest! Period. No traffic violations are required for arrest and prosecution. It would be nice if the DA's office at least knew what it was talking about.

  
  
• [7] Marcel Welty from Manhattan February 25, 2008 - 11:41AM

  Can't we talk together as responsible citizens about police officers who lie in court (with absolute impunity!), racially discriminate, and even act out criminally?

  The police are not loved in some communities, for very good reason. Anyone with a pulse and of a certain age absolutely knows (sometimes by hard personal experience) that there is something completely dishonest about heaping adulation on the police and the criminal justice system.

  I am white, but have Black friends, and I am constantly, repeatedly shocked at the way the police and the system act toward people of color.

  Given all that, how can we take DA Hynes word at face value that "marauding, gang-connected kids" acted criminally?

  The truth is criminal justice system is absolutely corrupt with racism.

  
  
• [8] J.C. from Minneapolis February 25, 2008 - 12:16PM

  I'm not familiar with this case (though I have to say that hearing the program makes me think this case is another example of police misconduct), but I would take issue with this county attorney's dismissing the NYT columnist's argument in part because the columnist isn't a lawyer.

  You do not have to be a lawyer to understand the law or understand evidence. Period. I hear lawyers make this ridiculous argument all the time and it disgust me because if we all, as citizens, can't "understand" the law, then what kind of republic do we live in? How are supposed to know what conduct constitutes a crime? How are jurors supposed to be able to weigh evidence?

  The law is not forbidden knowledge, nor should it be. So let's stop saying that only lawyers know the law.

  
  
• [9] James Brownski February 25, 2008 - 12:17PM

  Police lie way too frequently. The problem is that they think that they are above the law. It's disgusting.

  
  
• [10] World's Toughest Milkman from the_C_train February 25, 2008 - 12:44PM

  I think it would be a really interesting segment for Brian to follow up with what happens to that woman who called in about being arrested for pausing to watch a homeless man being arrested.

  She had stated that while she was on her cell phone with a 911 operator, she was told to "get a badge number" while the police were apparently "roughly arresting" a homeless man. Ultimately it sounds like a brash act to pull off while the officers were conducting an arrest. Getting a badge number requires one to get close and in front and could easily be construed as aggressive behavior. Maybe the uniforms should have badge numbers that are easier to read, and in a manner that can't be covered easily with black electrical tape. Perhaps she should have just used the video camera on her cell phone to record the incident since it would have more impact than a solitary and mute "Holden Caulfield" act.

  
  
• [11] jeff from NYC February 25, 2008 - 01:36PM

  It's truly amazing to listen to a sacarine politician work Brian. I guess if your not nice he won't come back right Bri.. His closing comment says it all "follow the facts"? then squirm away. Follow the lies would be a better way to follow the truth. Either Hynes is delusional a fool or a liar. Anyone who has been involved in a legal proceeding of any kind knows what really goes on in a court room. Truth seldom enters the building or exits. The reason for the media attention is not because a bunch of radical advocates and craven media outlets stoke stories. The story is that we have all seen this behavior from the NYC police department and the politicians they slither for again and again but can't pin the tail on the slimy donkey. continued...

  
  
• [12] jeff from NYC February 25, 2008 - 01:36PM

  .....I'm not saying that if you live in a ghetto you might not occasionally get some protection from the men in blue I'm not saying there aren't some magnanimous motivation's protecting us from gangs but mostly it's just keep the barbarians outside the gate… Gool-iani for president anyone? maybe Bloomberg how about Charles Hynes. No he's just trying to survive as a middle level burocrat in an imperfect system and keep his politico friends hedge fund buddies and the frightened citizenry etc satisfied. Did Hynes start his recidivism program after or before all these controversies… Sorry if I seem cynical,

  I just wish we could hear a little more truth instead of talk about how the legal system and the underpaid uneducated cops will work out the mess. Brian's middlebrow radio show is not set up to deal with this kind truth either occasionally you bunt a single Brian just not often lately. Hey what can you do pull a Peter Finch. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" These guys use you a lot but I guess one hand washes the other.

  
  
• [13] sara from Brooklyn February 26, 2008 - 10:40AM

  Interesting.

  Not a single person commenting so far seemed to actually hear what the DA was trying to get across.

  The knee-jerk assumption that because someone is on the side of "the law" they are necessarily persecuting innocent people -- just because it does, definitely, go on all the time

  (I've been on the receiving end myself) and because there is undoubtedly complicity between the courts, the lawyers, the police -- is perpetuating the same problem, in reverse, of people with their minds made up in advance!

  Just to say, justice can be immensely fragile.

  For fear I have already taken up too much space here, I would suggest everyone, in whatever situation, take in all the evidence on a case-by-case basis...and try listening again to what the DA was actually suggesting.