Videos Challenge Accounts of (RNC) Convention Unrest

[Rose Siding]

Dennis Kyne put up such a fight at a political protest last summer, the arresting officer recalled, it took four police officers to haul him down the steps of the New York Public Library and across Fifth Avenue.

"We picked him up and we carried him while he squirmed and screamed," the officer, Matthew Wohl, testified in December. "I had one of his legs because he was kicking and refusing to walk on his own."

Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.

During a recess, the defense had brought new information to the prosecutor. A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints.

A sprawling body of visual evidence, made possible by inexpensive, lightweight cameras in the hands of private citizens, volunteer observers and the police themselves, has shifted the debate over precisely what happened on the streets during the week of the convention.

http://nytimes.com/2005/04/12/nyregion/12video.html?hp&ex=1113278400&en=4d9abf3f02de567e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

On edit...MORE...Read this one

[glaucon]

1. Lying bastards...

From further on in the article:



That was a problem in the case of Mr. Dunlop, who learned that his tape had been altered only after Ms. Clancy found another version of the same tape. Mr. Dunlop had been accused of pushing his bicycle into a line of police officers on the Lower East Side and of resisting arrest, but the deleted parts of the tape show him calmly approaching the police line, and later submitting to arrest without apparent incident.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney, Barbara Thompson, said the material had been cut by a technician in the prosecutor's office. "It was our mistake," she said. "The assistant district attorney wanted to include that portion" because she initially believed that it supported the charges against Mr. Dunlop. Later, however, the arresting officer, who does not appear on the video, was no longer sure of the specifics in the complaint against Mr. Dunlop.


**********************

If you're caught lying, just confiscate the video and edit out the parts you don't like. Never trust a police officer...

[Rose Siding]

3. And this one...

snip>
For Mr. Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proven, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.

Among them was Alexander Dunlop, who said he was arrested while going to pick up sushi.

Last week, he discovered that there were two versions of the same police tape: the one that was to be used as evidence in his trial had been edited at two spots, removing images that showed Mr. Dunlop behaving peacefully. When a volunteer film archivist found a more complete version of the tape and gave it to Mr. Dunlop's lawyer, prosecutors immediately dropped the charges and said that a technician had cut the material by mistake.
.............

How will anyone EVER be able to investigate and right all these wrongs?! :cry:

[The Doctor.]

5. MISTAKE!!!!!!

Mistake my flaming ass!

(Ok - it's not really flaming.)

TWO separate 'accidental' edits?

If I were the judge, I go activist on the prosecutors ass and make sure someone was held accountable for tampering.

BTW - got a link?

oe- content

[Rose Siding]

8. It's snipped from the article in the Original Post

These aren't accidents and DOZENS of the cases have been dropped.

[redqueen]

41. HUNDREDS - "Seven months after the convetion

at Madison Square Garden, criminal charges have fallen against all but a handful of people arrested that week. Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial. Many were dropped without any finding of wrongdoing, but also without any serious inquiry into the circumstances of the arrests, with the Manhattan district attorney's office agreeing that the cases should be "adjourned in contemplation of dismissal."


This is an OUTRAGE.

Where again is the 'liberal media'? I sure do miss them!

[Tigress DEM]

46. I want my country back. This isn't America anymore.

It's the Republican Run Land of the Rich.

[saigon68]

24. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL THUG POLICE

Wait til the "PEACE KEEPERS OF IRAQ" come back, join the police and start kicking ass in the big city

What you've seen up to now is merely fuzzy bunny tantrums by the Hooligan POLICE.

[Tigress DEM]

47. I believe in the honest police and media, but they are an ineffective...

minority these days I'm afraid.

Is this how the Nazi SS began? With subtle bending of the rules to keep people in line and a strong presence to intimidate, but the law actually held up?

How long will it last? How long can we take this errosion of our civil liberties before we just fade away into nothingness?

[saigon68]

49. It won't be long now

The police want everyone to bend over and kiss their ass.

[LiberalFighter]

64. Can you imagine what the impact of smaller digital video cams

or even now if more people had camera phones?

We have to be more prepared. Make it impossible for the opposition to win! If you have a video cam take it along and be ready to use it. If you have a digital camera take it along and be ready to use it. They can tell a story too.

If you have a camera phone the pics can be sent to another location without worrying about it being confiscated and later the images deleted.

Not being familiar with camera phones what are the possibilities? Can it be sent to multiple locations simultaneously? Can it be stored somewhere for later retrieval?

Those that have any type of digital phones should have important numbers ready for speed dial. Media, emergency contacts, rapid response, group leaders, etc.

[paineinthearse]

2. ummmmmmm.......dare I say counter sue for false arrest and imprisonment?

[The Doctor.]

4. absolutely.

I'd like to think I would have allowed the prosecution to foist itself before bringing forward the evidence.

Would have been nice to get the lying cop for perjury.

[johnfunk]

36. Let the litigation begin!

Wouldn't it be something if one or more of the protesters sued and had the resources to go to discovery?

Imagine the headlines if lawyers started working their way up the NYPD "food chain" to find out who was giving the prders, what they were, and who in the Mayor's Office, the RNC and the White House was pressuring NYPD.

I'd imagine that all parties up the chain would gladly settle if only to protect the real crooks -- and I'd hope the litigants would say no to any settlement.

[Mandate My Ass]

38. The city of Philadelphia took out an insurance policy for RNC 2000

Why on earth would a city need a special insurance policy unless they knew their actions were not going to hold up in a court of law?

"A policy rider purchased from Lexington Insurance of Boston, MA has liability limits of $3 million covering the city for such things as assault and battery, false arrest, wrongful detention, and malicious prosecution (for policy text see below). "Knowing that they were not liable, the police and city of Philadelphia conspired to suspend the rights of thousands of people during a national political campaign," claims Danielle Redden of R2K Legal."

http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0731-01.htm

Then the city secretly settled the suits so they wouldn't have to bear public censure for planning ahead of time to purposely and maliciously deny citizens their right to peacefully protest.

[DemBeans]

39. I'd contribute to that!

I'd love to see someone use all available legal resources to expose this police corruption. This story is shocking.

[grytpype]

6. Lying pigs.

That's all I have to say. Lying pigs.

[wschalle]

16. Just because...

One lied... Doesn't make them all bad.

[Lerkfish]

18. but tampering with evidence throws out their credibility as a group...

whether they are "all bad" or not.

it casts doubt on any and all video evidence brought forth by the police.

besides, it wasn't "one" that lied, there are several, including whoever edited the tape, and who ordered it edited. that wasn't one person.

[intheflow]

20. The perception that it extends beyond

a "few isolated incidents" should spur fellow officers into behaving ethically and hold their fellow officers accountable for bad behavior. Because if the perception is that all cops are bad, it ups the danger level for all cops on the streets.

[Richard Steele]

26. HI, wschalle! Enjoy your stay!

[silvermachine]

32. What is your point?

Enjoy your very short stay here.

[KDLarsen]

34. What is YOUR point?

When I go to football games, I usually hang around people who are borderline hooligans - that doesn't make me a hooligan. It's bad that some members of the NYPD can't stay clean, but that doesn't mean that all of the NYPD have been devoured by corruption.

[redqueen]

42. Did you read the article?

If you're too busy, at least read the snippet quoted in post #41.

[NYC]

70. When the good cops "look the other way"

they are complicit. They have a responsibility to report wrongdoing by fellow officers.

[Tigress DEM]

48. I'm sure there are some are good, honest police on the NYPD....

but they are up against "bushit" just like we are. When the New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was the one who was too slimy to get the nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security, you gotta know that the rot is coming from the top... I remember DU posts about him having Mafia Thugs at his wedding and making millions off some deal he never even put his own money into....

Here's the "News Lite" version
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6697161/site/newsweek

Here's a little more like it
hhttp://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=263736

<snip>
Kerik's record, however, raises serious question about his motives, ethics and ability to defend America. Kerik abruptly quit a critical job in Iraq, mismanaged rescue efforts in the aftermath of 9/11, used his official posts for personal enrichment and has been plagued by serious scandals.

<snip> Headings:
KERIK ABANDONS CRITICAL POST IN IRAQ TO TAKE A VACATION:
KERIK CRITICIZED BY CONSERVATIVES FOR POST-9/11 OPERATIONS:
KERIK SENT COPS OUT OF NYC TO RESEARCH HIS PERSONAL MEMOIRS:
KERIK'S STUNNING CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
KERIK'S DIRTY DOOR DEAL:
KERIK ACCUSED OF FORCING GUARDS TO DO POLITICAL WORK:

[tinanator]

51. if they follow orders

and those orders are illegal...

[Blue Diadem]

7. So Officer Wohl's word is obviously not worth anything,

why is he still allowed to be in law enforcement? And..gee..what about the people who altered those tapes to make someone look guilty? IMO, that's criminal.

Thank God for those other videos.

[sendero]

29. Aren't there laws..

...against perjury? Was he deposed under oath?

[Blue Diadem]

37. I think they are under oath when they're deposed. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

65. Aren't they always under oath since they are law enforcement?

They had to swear an oath to uphold the law.

[Voltaire99]

9. Small lightweight cameras for citizens: fascists hate them

Just the thing for watching the watchmen.

[MisterP]

10. not that this'll sway the Nixonite hard hats here:

rule by billy club "if" you "provoke" the police is still rule by billy club

[oxbow]

11. It's clear the arrests were just to get people off the streets

and probably to intimidate the other protesters. They have no evidence against OVER 90% of the defendants????!!!

[Rose Siding]

12. And how credible is the evidence they have?

The case for which they had VIDEO was dropped only because the defendant came across ANOTHER video that showed the state's had been edited! Who can trust the rest of the cases?

This is messed UP!

[ninkasi]

69. Trust them?

I would sooner trust that my terrier will become fluent in several languages, and be able to score high enough on the tests to become a member of MENSA.

I do not truest them to anything that is not in keeping with the Radical Right's agenda. Whether they were ordered by people higher up in the food chain, or are just this way on their own, I do not trust them, and do not believe them.

[megatherium]

27. Another reason: to convince the public that Bush's opponents are just

a bunch of violent radicals or crazy hippie anarchists. News stories that the police arrested a thousand protesters send that message nicely. Later, when no one is paying attention, almost all of the protesters have been released, almost all charges dropped.

[keopeli]

13. Proposition - The defense knew of the tape all along

Perhaps, if they knew of the tape, they waited to introduce it so that they could have the office purjure himself under oath. That will add certitude to the defendant in a wrongful imprisonment suit...and all the others that will be filed as well.

Smart defense...perhaps.

[Rose Siding]

14. It's so hard to think of all the others who don't have a tape.

Classic undermining of the entire system.

There should be lots of suits with hefty settlements- a cost that just comes back around and bites the people in the tail.

[oxbow]

15. God I hope so

Take these bastards to suit hard and shine some media spotlight on this whole heap of shit. I wonder who in the GOP paid who in the NYC government to get these people wrongfully imprisoned? I hope these defendants go ahead with their lawsuits. If they really care about GOP corruption, then this is a great way to fight back and get some attention on the issue.

[truthisfreedom]

17. jail time for the lying pig.

jail time with the people he's put behind bars with his lying.

[countmyvote4real]

19. It’s not like the NYPD is a renegade or vigilante organization.

They are trained, they are certified and they follow orders from the top. And yes, there is a history of bad apples in the big one, but the majority of the rot comes from the mayor on down.

In this case, our current mayor (my mother, my sister, my mother, my sister) was hell bent on upholding his mother/sister/whatever deal with the GOP and gave his/their marching orders. And the NYPD followed without any regard for truth or any democratic principals. It’s not surprising that their rank and file could be so spooked by a terrorist threat having endured and suffered two attacks on the WTC. Sweeten or sourer that perspective with GOP/Homeland Security paranoia and the result is false arrest, abuse and despotism.

Once again, this is NYC. We’re not surprised by much here. No stranger to mass protests. No stranger to tragedy. We like our public protests to have a permit. And even though the requested protests were grudgingly and miserly granted, the people turned out to express their outrage. Of course they were not all native New Yorkers, but if you have the balls to take it to the street and dodge the traffic, you can acquire honorary native status in a relative matter of time. Native requires a lease.

We native NY’ers have to dump Bloomberg because he sold our city out to the GOP. This is just further proof. He can’t pretend that that we’ll pretend his latest “progressive” move to acknowledge gay marriages or covenants from other places (even though they still can’t originate here) can let us pretend to let him off the hook for the mayor’s instructions to shut down the protest of the GOP in their choice of exploiting our tragedy for the purposes of their convention.

A millionaire pseudo populist that defers his agenda (I want to be mayor of NYC. End of story.) in order to elevate Bush is not good for our city or our spirit.

[progressoid]

31. bad apples....

Thanks for a voice of reason here.

[redqueen]

43. Does it matter what the excuse is?

Their JOB is to enforce the law... it logically follows that they should damn well know they have to OBEY it, too.

I don't care WHO gave the orders... anyone who followed those orders is complicit. Period.

[NYC]

21. This took long enough to come out.

About 8 months now?

Remember the fines (large) because protestors were being held, and not brought to court? The judge said they were making no effort to bring the defendants to court because they wanted to hold them off the street until the protests ended. That cost the city quite a bundle. (That means the very people who were held in Guantanamo on the Hudson, and held too long, will pay those fines out of their taxes. Still, it makes a point.)

I witnessed several arrests on different dates, and always heard a story that differed from what I saw.

[Nothing Without Hope]

22. Gives some vivid coloring to that flat phrase "Police State."

There are many people of integrity serving as police. This situation shames them all as well as scaring the hell out of anyone not covered with friendly video documentation.

[FlemingsGhost]

23. Yeah, go ahead officer ... tell us about "respect and rule of law."

Coward.

[Zhade]

25. Wohl is a fucking brownshirt shitbag LIAR.

Fuck him!

[Corgigal]

28. this wasn't only NYPD

who had marching orders to keep Bush safe and happy. The DA actually did the editing of the tapes to help match to story of the police.

All damn system is flawed. Info from article below;

A spokeswoman for the district attorney, Barbara Thompson, said the material had been cut by a technician in the prosecutor's office. "It was our mistake," she said

[LiberalFighter]

66. Mistake that they got caught? Or didn't do a good enough job?

[Zorra]

30. It's a pretty serious thing for a cop to deliberately lie in order to put

an innocent American citizen in a cage. This is a terrible abuse of power a horrible thing to do to somebody.

There should be a federal mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for victims compensation for any cop found guilty of deliberately and knowingly arresting innocent people/perjury.

[Eloriel]

44. It's serious, but fairly frequent

I like your idea about how to deal with it, tho such a "fix" might actually make that all-pervasive Code of Silence all the worse.

[Mandate My Ass]

33. Just like RNC 2000 in Philly

Massive arrests of peaceful protestors, cops' stories proving at best unreliable in court, and very few even able to make definitive IDs of suspects. Many people sued the city and won.

So the upshot is when King George and the RNC come to town it costs shitloads of money to hire extra police and security, extra money to house nonviolent protestors for extended periods of time, extra money for overzealous prosecution, then finally acquittal and even more money for civil law suits.

The Repubs suck money out of our pockets in a multitude of illicit ways but their brain-dead followers will still whine that the Dems are "tax-and-spend" liberals.

[Stephanie]

35. Make no mistake - those were PRE-EMPTIVE arrests.

They were arresting everyone they could and putting them away for the duration. The RNC rented the temporary jail! Guantanamo on the Hudson. Rounding people up in orange NETS and arresting everyone caught inside. It was the most OUTRAGEOUS violation of civil rights I have ever seen personally. New Yorkers, who have suffered more under George Bush than anyone else, were subjected to yet MORE abuse and I am still FURIOUS over it.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

40. "Inciting a riot"? Scary....

Apparently there is a fine line between inciting a riot, and freedom of speech/right to peaceful assembly, and the decisions to call it one way or the other are made arbitrarily...

I met Dennis Kyne at an Inauguration Day protest in New Orleans. He gave a powerful speech at the rally. Does that constitute inciting a riot? He was kind and polite and seemed even mild-mannered later that day, and gave me a copy of his book, "Support the Truth",
which is a chilling expose of the US's illegal use of depleted uranium in its weapons during Operation Desert Storm (and now--but worse), and the effects of the exposure on the soldiers and citizens.

If they can silence people like Dennis Kyne by accusing them, by their very presence, of inciting a riot, then we are in worse trouble than I thought.

[mogster]

45. Here's some stories from the RNC Conv. in 2004 - by motherjones

Lockdown Manhattan
By JoAnn Wypijewski
September 3, 2004

New York during the Republican National Convention has been a town of strong elbows. NYPD's orders translate to “No mercy,” and following orders is the job -- as the author found Tuesday night, when she was thrown in the slammer at Pier 57.

<snip>

In midtown Manhattan around Madison Square Garden, police direct pedestrians as if we were hamsters in a maze. This way, that way, “No, this is closed.” Why? Reasons needn’t be given, or apparent. No stopping, no congregating, “Keep moving!” Warnings come without context, threats of enforcing laws that may or may not exist. Civilians step lightly, warily. Police are on foot, on scooter, on bicycles, on horseback, under floodlights or amid shadows.

<snip>

More police arrived, and it seemed we stood there on the sidewalk for a long while, waiting. Even among the reporters, there was a mystified silence. Finally police told reporters and legal observers to come out of the group. It was clear the others would be arrested. I was walking out, taking the name of a young woman who seemed scared and a bit shaky and her mother’s phone number. I told her I would give her name to the “legals” and call her mother when one Sgt. Myers, a huge man wearing sunglasses though it was dark, ordered an officer, “Cuff her!”

“I’m press!” I said, flashing the badge that hung round my neck.
“Cuff her!” he repeated.

“Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you,” Officer Ojeda said as he put the plastic cuffs on me. I seem to remember him saying “I’m sorry” too, but maybe it was just in his tone.

“But why are you doing this?”

Read at mojo:

Lockdown Manhattan
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/09/09_404.html

MJ.com at the Republican National Convention
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/09/09_402.html

The Rise of the Homeland Security State
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/09/09_405.html

Dispatch from New York: Whose Streets?
http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/08/08_535.html

Fortress Big Apple (Engelhardt)
http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/07/07_820.html

[redqueen]

50. This is not America...

[icymist]

67. This is the Re-Thugs Amerika.

From the 'Lockdown Manhattan' article above.

Or, as one of the cops said, “My commanding officer says ‘Arrest her’, I have to arrest you. But somebody’s told him that that’s got to be the order. ‘Arrest them all’—that’s the line from the top.” The top, for this particular national security event, as the RNC has been labeled, is the Secret Service. “They’re in charge of this whole thing,” a bicycle cop told me on the street the next day, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made sure to take his full portion of credit. Manhattan was like ice that day and night after the mass arrests, lockdown. The Republicans loved it. They waved their “Let Freedom Reign” signs while Dick Cheney spoke, and set out afterward on near-deserted streets, a breezy style to their walk for the first time.

Now we can see exactly what the Re-pucks have in store for our country. Manhatten like 'ice' and they love it! Heartless, Godless bastards!

Come on Indie reporters, make these bastards sorry they ever arrested the press!

[Moderator]

52. kick to combine

[lies and propaganda]

53. NY Law Enforcement Caught Doctoring Video of RNC Arrests

New York law enforcement is caught doctoring video of arrests made during the Republican Convention. We speak with Alexander Dunlop, whose charges were dropped after the edited video was exposed, his lawyer Michael Conroy as well as a member of I-Witness Video who helped find the footage that eventually vindicated Alexander. And we get response from the NYPD.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/14/1349256

This is an Amy Goodman interview with this kid who got caught up at the RNC protests and did the wrong thing by asking a cop how to get out.
This shocked the hell out of me.

(And this is my first LBN post, be gentle.)

[knowbody0]

54. i love this

thank you

[lies and propaganda]

55. pretty engaging story on many levels..

I love that there are group of videographers taping for the people. And its hilarious that these cops thought they could pull one over on us. Most of the computer geeks i know are dem all the way, and could very easily spot badily edited video.

Thank you knowbody

[knowbody0]

61. its so cool

when truths are exposed. i carry a camera everywhere.

[NorthernSpy]

56. what is the penalty for faking evidence?

This should not end with the dismissal of the charges against Alexander Dunlop. It should end with the conviction and punishment of everyone involved in the evidence tampering.

[Randi_Listener]

57. Do these motherfuckers ever stop with the propaganda bullshit?

[wtmusic]

58. Heh...NYPD busted

Great LBN post! :-)

[ahem]

59. Thanks for posting this! n/t

[peacetalksforall]

60. This is gut-wrenching sick. They should investigate to determine

whether the PD or DA's sought, agreed to, approved, or winked at any requests for 'aid' in viewing, indexing, cataloging, or editing any tapes. They need to find out if the RNC, a PAC, or any citizen's group had access to the tapes. They need a timeline of the handling of those tapes.

They have to find out what the plan was for the evenng. It sounds as thought the police were told to arrest as many as possible.

This Browne guy is a juvenile whiner, excuse maker and manifested no wisdom or professionalism in this interview. What he says translates to - extremely defensive and bursting with assumptions if not wiggling out of their own purposeful campaign to conduct their own demonstration.

What is that stuff about this Dunlop guy not having a permit - I thought only the organizers had to have a permit to protest.

How many laws or procedures were broken here? This is sick.

[Trillo]

63. NYPD's Deputy Commissioner Browne summarized it accurately:

"I think we're very satisfied overall with the conduct of the police during the convention."

My translation: It's business as usual.

I'm very glad the word is getting out, and I'm sorry that the police do their business this way. Many of us have similar experiences, and have often been thanked by the disbelief of others.

[Swede]

62. Every Wohl conviction is now suspect.

How long has he been lying in court?

[ngGale]

68. Does anybody in authority tell the truth anymore? n/t