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Charges Dropped Against Councilman Arrested And Roughed Up At Zuccotti Park Raid
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 5, 2012
Modified Apr 5, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 5, 2012
Modified Apr 5, 2012
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The Manhattan DA's office has declined to prosecute a City Councilmember who was arrested outside Zuccotti Park on the night the NYPD moved in and evicted the Occupy Wall Street encampment. You'll recall that Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez was arrested while trying to get to the park to observe the eviction at 2 a.m., and was not released until 8 p.m. that evening. When he emerged after 20 hours in custody, he had a gash over his eye that he says was the result of police brutality. Police say he shoved a female officer while trying to push through a barricade... but that officer was never found nor identified nor, in all likelihood, ever existed.
Rodriguez was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. City Room reports that assistant district attorney Michele Bayer said in court yesterday, “After a thorough investigation, the people have determined that the officers who were involved in this defendant’s arrest had probable cause to arrest him when he attempted to get past a police barricade." But because “we don’t have the testimony of this specific female officer, we cannot prove the charges against this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt." (We're guessing Officer Viane Delgado is laying low with Hipster Cop in some roadside motel in Jersey City.)
Rodriguez's lawyer, Andrew Stoll, tells City Room, "This was not civil disobedience. This was one man walking toward Zuccotti Park when nobody had ordered him to do otherwise, nobody had stopped him, and he wasn’t aware of any universal order that entire blocks of downtown were suddenly off limits to the public." And in an interview with CBS 2, Stoll said, "From the moment I saw an unnamed female officer in the complaint, it appeared to me to be a fiction."
Rodriguez issued a statement yesterday saying, "The dismissal of these charges is in line with what I have said from the beginning: that I was acting legally as an observer, which is my right as an elected official." As for his injuries, the assistant DA told the judge prosecutors had concluded there was “no evidence to corroborate” Rodriguez’ claims of being attacked and that his arrest was lawful."
(And the Daily News notes that before Rodriguez left the courtroom, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarino told the councilman to say hello to “Jimmy and Vinny," an apparent reference to Republican Staten Island councilmen James Oddo and Vincent Ignizio.)
Tagged
nypd
occupy wall street
ows
ydanis rodriguez
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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