I was walking home on Dutchess Terrace toward Verplank Ave., leaving X’s house.
All of a sudden police ran up in front of me on the street, they were on foot and they had a police dog. They were yelling, “Get down on the fucking ground! Get down on the fucking ground or else we’ll make the fucking dog bite!!!”
I got down on the ground on my stomach with my arms outstretched out in front. They grabbed my arms with a yank and cuffed me. There was a cop with a flashlight pointed at me with a gun under the flashlight. The flashlight and the gun were pointed at me, approximately 10’ away. They searched my pockets in back and in front.
I asked, “What is this for? What about having my rights read to me?”
I was answered, “We don’t have to read you your rights.”
Then they put me in a cop car. I gave them my NYS ID card and then they ran it through the computer. After 10 minutes they said, “OK, you can go.”
But I still wanted my questions answered, so I asked, “What was this for?” “What about having my rights read to me?”
They said, “Just go.”
I noticed there was something missing from my pocket and asked them for it. They gave it back. I went home. I didn’t want to ask them about my rights anymore. I didn’t want to push it and ask for more trouble.
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Thank you for creating this site. While not all police are bad, power tends to corrupt, and people with weak moral character tend to abuse their position of power. There is no excuse for armed thugs violating rights, no matter who they work for.
ReplyDeleteIf there can be a silver lining to your story, it's that hopefully some young people have become aware of the arbitrary and capricious nature of government force, and will take a more skeptical view of government action in general.
So.. what is the next step?..introduce a resolution to the city council for a fully supported civilian complaint review board?
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