Poor Mojo's Newswire

F or almost 30 years — from 1983 to 2012 — the New York Police Department went about arresting people under laws that state and federal courts had long declared unconstitutional, cuffing and booking almost 22,000 people. In 2010, federal judge Shira A. Scheindlin finally held them in contempt of court. Yesterday, she signed an order approving what is effectively their punishment: a $15 million class-action settlement that could generate individual payments of as much as $5,000. Those arrested were forced to defend themselves in court and even served jail time for completely lawful behavior. The class action settlement also requires the city to help the courts vacate and seal all convictions stemming from the illegal arrests. “NYPD used these void laws over the past few decades to target people based on poverty, race and sexual orientation,” said J. McGregor Smyth, an attorney from the Bronx Defenders and a lead attorney for the class. “We are happy that the city has finally taken responsibilities for these abuses, agreeing to pay meaningful damages to its victims and to stop its unconstitutional practices once and for all.” The three unconstitutional laws under which the NYPD made the illegal arrests prohibited people from loitering to panhandle, to search for sex partners or to wait in a bus or train station. Federal and state courts struck down all three of those laws between 1983 and 1993 as violating First Amendment rights, according to The New York Times. . . .

In her lawsuit, Temmie Breslauer says she was arrested on January 12 in a subway station for illegally using her dad's discount fare card (only seniors and people with disabilities can get these). She says the arresting officers — the suit names one, Officer Shah — laughed at her. When they took her to the station, a desk sergeant asked her "whether she had a penis or a vagina." Breslauer explained that she was in transition. Then, instead of putting her with female inmates or in her own room, the department allegedly chose this course of action: [S]he was fingerprinted, seated on a bench, then painfully chained to a fence wherein, for no apparent reason, her arm was lifted over her head and attached to the fence to make it appear that she was raising her hand in the classroom. She sat there in that position for 28 hours. She also says officers not only refused to call her "she," they instead referred to her as "He-She", "Faggot," and "Lady GaGa," and asked her "So you like to suck dick? Or what?" Meanwhile, people arrested for the same minor crime (misdemeanor "theft of services") she was were calmly processed and allowed to leave. Finally, she was able to go before a judge, who gave her two days of community service. She says the whole ordeal aggravated her existing PTSD and left her sleepless and suicidal. . . .

1. A march was stopped at Telegraph Ave and William St. 2. All park exists were blocked off 3. The crowed was ordered to leave without being allowed any exit 4. Gas / Chemicals, projectiles, batons, and explosives were used on the marchers I was not sure during the filming, but gas was definitely used on this residential area. I definitely felt sick later as the gas reached my apartment. Protesters did not destroy any personal property. Building windows and cars remained untouched (in this area at least). I have no doubt that the number of marchers will increase next time. This group started with camping - The city's responses seem to be slowly turning them into some kind of militia.

This is a screenshot of an infrared live video feed by broadcaster OakFoSho. It shows hundreds of arrested protesters handcuffed and sitting on the sidewalk in rows, waiting to be taken away to jail. The police surrounded the protesters in a “kettle”, read a dispersal order, then refused to allow them to disperse, which is required by law. Arrests and beatings began shortly thereafter. A woman with leukemia was likely brutalized. The police also knocked out a medic’s teeth before arresting them. Arrest count is estimated at between 300 and 700. Many of the arrested protesters are ‘missing’—they do not appear in the police department booking system; the police claim not to have them, and they were witnessed being arrested.