Reply #10: Fla. Police Tape Is No Laughing Matter to Protester [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Fla. Police Tape Is No Laughing Matter to Protester
Police Apologize but Lawyer Plans Lawsuit for Rubber Bullet Shooting

By ARASH GHADISHAH

MIAMI, Aug. 10, 2006 —

~snip~
Before long, she was caught in a barrage of rubber-bullet fire.

Ritter said police offered no warning before firing on protesters.

"There was absolutely no indication either orally or by gesture that they wanted anyone to disperse or leave," she said. "Had the police given such an order, I would have obeyed it immediately."

Videotaped footage of the protests shows Ritter standing next to a police officer using a bullhorn to announce that the protests would be permitted to continue as long as they remained peaceful.

Ritter is later seen on the tape walking away from a line of officers when she is apparently shot in the leg with a rubber bullet.

She then turns toward the officers and asks, "Did you shoot me? A lady in a suit? Who has been walking peaceably in front of you for half an hour and you shot me when my back was turned?"
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2296783&page=1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protesters contend Miami police abused them, stepped on their civil rights

By Diana Marrero
Miami Bureau
Posted November 28 2003

~snip~
The video also captured footage of Miami lawyer Elizabeth Ritter, who stood
peacefully in front of a row of officers in black riot gear with a sign
meant to protest what she saw as the creation of a police state in her
hometown, not the trade talks. The sign read: "Fear Totalitarianism."

A short time later, Ritter was hit by at least five rubber bullets as she
walked away from officers. One hit her in the back of the head while she
crouched behind her sign.

"Never in a million years did it occur to me that my police department would
hurt me or much less shoot me in the back," Ritter said.
(snip/...)

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:nC3XWthyWWEJ:listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa%3FA2%3Dind0311%26L%3Dpoetics%26D%3D1%26O%3DD%26P%3D87526+%22Elizabeth+Ritter%22+Miami+protest&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3