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[UPDATES] Video: Anonymous Leaks NYPD Footage Of Occupy's Eviction From Zuccotti Park
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 24, 2012
Modified Sep 24, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 24, 2012
Modified Sep 24, 2012
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Anonymous has leaked what they claim to be "hours" of footage of last year's raid on Zuccotti Park shot by the NYPD from 14 different cameras. A short montage of the footage has been compiled together for a YouTube video (below), but the file available for download is 11 GB. "While it's clear that a lot of this police footage is incomplete and has been edited, some may say even tampered with, to remove the most damning incidents (sometimes in very obvious edits)," the uploader writes, "there is still enough material to paint the picture of what really happened in Zuccotti park once the media cameras have left."
The footage shows helmeted NYPD officers making arrests, some sort of device discharging a large amount of smoke in front of an officer, and officers wielding a saw to cut into metal that is securing a protester to a tree (some protesters used bike locks to prevent themselves from being removed from the park).
An email to the NYPD's top press spokesman, Paul Browne, has not been returned. Previously, very little footage of the November 15th raid existed because the NYPD forced media away from Zuccotti Park. Footage of the mass arrests during the Brooklyn Bridge action taken by the department's Tactical Assistance Response Unit was released as evidence in the subsequent trials against the demonstrators.
We're currently reviewing the trove of footage.
[UPDATE] As some keen reporters have noted, there's a good chance this video wasn't "leaked" by Anonymous, but rather turned over by the City during the discovery phases in the cases of individual protesters who were arrested during the raid. "I can confirm that TARU video and other video arising from the November 15th eviction was turned over to defense attorneys," says Gideon Oliver, the president of the National Lawyers Guild—New York Chapter. "That happened some time ago." The NLG is representing some protesters who were arrested in the raid. Oliver adds that none of the cases have gone to trial yet.
[UPDATE 2] Deputy Commissioner, Public Information Paul Browne returned our request to comment: " 'Purports' is the operative word," Browne writes, in reference to our inquiry of the footage that Anonymous purports to have taken from the NYPD. "Contrary to the narrator's account, there were scores of protesters who took video with no attempts by the police to confiscate it."
"Further, the west side of Zuccotti Park on Church Street was lined with television news personnel and satellite trucks, many of whom filmed events that night," Browne adds, omitting the fact that a press pen for the media was erected out of sight of the park, and that most members of the media weren't permitted to observe the raid.
Browne says that the "officer" at the outset of Anonymous' video is not wearing an authentic NYPD uniform, as its patches are out of place and the badge is "clearly bogus." To Browne, the voice of a man stating he is a detective is a sign that the footage was likely turned over in discovery, and is part of the court record: "It was not 'leaked' by the police, but possibly by someone suing us, and not much of a leak since it's park of the court record."
Tagged
nypd
occupy wall street
TARU
Zuccotti Park
original
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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