Of the 8 cases seen, 8 or 100% of the defendants were people of color.
Common charges:
Open alcohol container
Driving with a suspended license
Theft of services (subway infraction)
Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree (possessing drug residue)
Unlawful possession of marijuana
8 of 8 or 100% of the defendants walked out of the courtroom.
* Brooklyn's demographics:
35.5% - White
31.9% - Black
0.2% - American Indian and Alaska Native
10.4% - Asian
0.0% - Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
19.8% - Hispanic
*Demographic percentages taken from the 2010 Census of the US Census Bureau
**All races excluding "Hispanic" are taken from non-Hispanic category
Stories:
Police officers arrested two young black men on the charge of open alcohol container. One young man had a previous summons warrant for spitting, the other did not have a warrant. Both young men were Hatian immigrants and received ACD's, but the judge had to grant one man an immediate sealing of his case because he was in the process of applying for U.S. citizenship.
Also, here are stories from people who signed the PROP petition on our March 14th Petition Day in the subways:
A middle-aged Latino man was walking with his friend in the Port Authority building in midtown Manhattan. The friend wanted to go home while the man wanted to stop somewhere to eat. The man lent his metrocard to his friend and went looking for a restaurant. An officer stopped him, accused him of selling his metrocard, and arrested him on that charge. The man was confined in a holding cell overnight where all his fellow detainees were either African-American or Latino. When he appeared in court the following morning, the judge dismissed the charge.
The leader of a subway dance group — they don't perform in the cars but in more open spaces in large stations like Union Square and Times Square — reports that the police regularly harass his dancers, all of whom are black and brown. The officers sometimes arrest them, cuff and confine them, on charges like disorderly conduct and "making too much noise". They are always held overnight and the judge invariably dismisses the charges when they appears in court. "A waste of time and money for everybody," the group's leader says.
A black man riding his bike in the street swerved to avoid a car that actually hit him — he and his bike fell onto the sidewalk. An officer arrived on the scene and arrested him on the charges of bike on the sidewalk and resisting arrest because the man initially pushed back when the officer put his hand on him from behind and the man did not know it was a cop touching him. The officer cuffed and locked up the man — not bringing him to the hospital though the man complained about a severe pain in his leg. Held overnight in jail, the man refused to agree to a plea when he appeared in court because he had done nothing wrong. Upon his release by the judge — he has a later court date for his trial — the man went immediately to a hospital where doctors diagnosed and began treating his fractured leg. He's now looking for a lawyer to represent him in the criminal case and another attorney to bring his lawsuit against the city for wrongful arrest among other claims.
The police arrested a young black woman and her 3 friends while they stood in the lobby of her building in Brooklyn. The officers charged them with marijuana possession even though the young people had no drugs on them. They were held in jail overnight and though they had done nothing wrong, took their public defenders' advice to accept a plea to a lesser charge. One prospective employer denied her a job because she now has a criminal record.
Several officers approached a group of black people on a street in Harlem and asked if any of them knew a man that they, the cops, were looking for. A man in the group explained that the person they sought was not anywhere nearby. When the officers seemed dissatisfied with that response and spoke rudely, the man said that he had heard enough and that he was leaving. One of the officers said, " Where do you think you're going?" and the group of officers attacked the man, knocking him down and beating him so badly that he had to be hospitalized for treatment of his injuries. The officers arrested the man for resisting arrest and obstructing government administration, charges which the court dismissed. The man filed an eventually successful lawsuit against the city.
https://vine.co/v/M3A9b3ehni0
Vid 4 second highlights Vine
http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2014/05/dr-andrew-fagelman-delita-hooks_24.html?m=1
