A little background...
Yesterday in my city, there was a protest calling in to question the rash of police brutality cases that have started surfacing around the country...
Now I don't know what exactly happened, but this was penned by one who was on sight.
17 were arrested.
written by someone active in yesterday's police brutality protest.
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I no longer believe that any civil rights I may have once had exist anymore. I had so many of my Constitutional rights taken from me this evening, it's ludicrous.
A large group of protesters of all ages and demographics (NOT just a bunch of teens like what's being portrayed by the news) met under the bridge in Peaceful Valley today. A few speeches were read aloud, reading off statistics of deaths by police brutality as compared to deaths of police on the job. An older gentleman gave an inspiring speech about standing up for our First Amendment rights on our Independence Day, and how important this march was to raise awareness of the ever increasing level of police brutality and stripping of civil rights all across the country, including our own city. A few police officers came up, and wanted to announce to us all that they support our right to protest and march, so long as we don't violate any traffic laws, and don't block traffic or anything of the sort, then there would be no problems whatsoever and we would be free to peacefully assemble and speak out.
The march went wonderfully. Police cruisers kept in constant eyesight, making sure nothing illegal was done. Lots of cars honked, waved, and shouted their support. We ended in Riverfront Park, near the clock tower, where our group proceeded to sit down to enjoy a picnic. Police surrounded us, taking pictures of all of our faces against our will. One officer told myself and one other protester that our picnic was too close to the band area by the stage, and to move it over to the other side of a designated blue spray paint line on the grass. I personally asked everyone to stand up, and we moved everything over, complying 100%. The police continued taking photographs, so we photographed them back. We asked one for his badge number and name, and he refused, saying we didn't have the right to know that. The officer then went around the group, and pushed Zach St. John off of a bucket he was sitting on. Zach jumped up, cursed at the officer, and asked why he did what he did. In response, Zach was accosted, handcuffed, choked, and beaten, right in front of all of us. We started chanting "let him go!" and asking what he did wrong. One officer grabbed my friend Meg by the throat and threw her to the ground. I yelled at him, "Why did you do that!? She didn't do anything wrong? What is your problem? No one is doing anything illegal! Let Zach go!"
The officer told me if I didn't get back, he would arrest me. I took two steps back, and asked again what Zach had gone wrong, and why they weren't reading him his rights. The officer ignored me, and I told him I wanted his name and badge number, as well as the other officers, because I wanted to report them for police misconduct. They refused, and took Zach away. Things somewhat died down afterwards, I tried my best, as did others, to maintain a sense of calm with our crowd, and convinced everyone to sit back down and we'd just bail Zach out.
Police called for reinforcements, at least 30-40 of them showed up, and had a huge grip of zip ties in hand. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and was trying to get someone with a video camera to come with me to speak to the police, and get the badge numbers and names of the officers responsible for arresting Zach. Instead, the cops came at us, batons drawn, zip-ties out, ordering us to leave the park because we were trespassing. We huddled together in a group, arm in arm, demanding to know how we were trespassing in a public park. Rather than answering us, the police started violently pushing us backwards onto the road, where more officers were waiting behind us. After separating our group into several smaller ones, they started shoving people with their batons, yelling that we were trespassing and to "get the fuck out of their park". I kept yelling back "why are you doing this? how are we trespassing? we haven't broken any laws!"
The police tore Hannah Jones away from me, and zip tied her hands. I had my arm around Savannah, trying to protect her from the cops baton that he kept shoving us back with. He ripped Savannah from me and arrested her as well. He told me to keep my hands up and that I was under arrest. I told him I would comply, but I wanted to know what I was being charged with first, and how I was supposedly trespassing in a public space. Rather than answering my simple question, the officer struck me in the hip with his baton, then struck me again in the chest with the butt of it. He grabbed me by the hair, told me I was a faggot and that I was going to jail, and handed me off to another officer. My hands were zip-tied behind my back, and I was led to a pile of people all face down, zip-tied, and in pain. I was searched, then thrown face down into the pile. Savannah was crying, and I could see her hands turning purple because her zip ties were tied so tightly. Cassie was the next one thrown into the pile. She screamed and cried as the officers zip-tied her hand, which was cut open and stitched previously to the march. She asked him over and over again to loosen the one on her right hand, because it had stitches. The cops ignored this.
Mikael Phelps was the next one I saw detained. He was yelling at an officer about Cassie's hand, and was zip tied and thrown face down, then called a retard by the officer. After a few more people were apprehended, I was picked up and escorted to a police car. Along the way, i heard many onlookers in the park asking what we had done wrong, the police didn't answer any of them. I was thrown in the back of a squad car alongside David Glen, then taken to County Jail.
I was completely compliant and kept my mouth shut all during processing. I knew I had not committed a crime today, and didn't intend to make matters any worse than they were. When processing was finished, the officer asked me to sign a paper stating that I knew why I was detained. I told him, "Officer, I have no idea why I was arrested. I didn't break any laws. No one told me what I did wrong, and no one read me any rights." The officer told me I was being charged with third degree trespassing, which is a misdemeanor. I told him I wasn't trespassing, I was just in a public park.
While in the holding cell waiting to get led upstairs, I was talking to Zach St John. His arm was cut wide open from the handcuffs, and he learned he was being charged with 2nd degree assault of a police officer, with no bail.
I was fingerprinted, and made to strip off my clothes and put on a pair of
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