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Women Claim They Were Arrested For Being Lost
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Aug 30, 2010
Modified Aug 30, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Aug 30, 2010
Modified Aug 30, 2010
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Two sisters are suing the NYPD over being arrested for simply not knowing where they were going. The women, identified as Miriam and Bracha, were on their way to an engagement party on July 7th, 2009 when they realized their directions had led them astray. A passerby directed them down an apartment complex driveway when a car pulled up behind them. The driver got out and tapped on their window and asked where they were going, and when they said they were lost he reached in and snatched their directions. The man identified himself as a cop, but the women wanted more proof.
Miriam said, "We were two women alone; it was late at night...We didn't trust the badge because there are lots of stories about women being stopped by unidentified cars driven by people with badges who end up raping them." But when Bracha asked if she could use her phone to call 911 and verify he was an officer, the man grabbed her phone, threw it away, then pulled her out of the car and handcuffed her. Miriam tried to call 911, but was pulled out of the car by another man and also handcuffed. Miriam said, "They laughed at us and said, 'Fool, we are the police.'" Well after a statement like that, what more proof could they need?
The officers reportedly accused the sisters of being on drugs, and were issued a summons for disorderly conduct. A judge dismissed the summons a month later, but the sisters say the cops had no right to suspect them of anything. Their attorney said, "What is outrageous is how these young women responded was consummately reasonable, and to penalize them for asking a question such as, 'Show me some credentials' is ridiculous."
Tagged
directions
lawsuit
lost
nypd
staten island
Jaya Saxena
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