[Peace-discuss] Brutalized & Arrested
in Cleveland for Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters
bdolinar at uiuc.edu
bdolinar at uiuc.edu
Mon Feb 6 08:59:48 CST 2006
Thanks for the posting, Lisa.
Anyone heard more about this story of police brutality?
Anyone have any contacts in Cleveland?
BD
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 07:33:09 -0600
>From: "Lisa Chason" <chason at shout.net>
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Brutalized & Arrested in Cleveland
for Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters
>To: <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>
>
>
> Brutalized & Arrested in Cleveland for E-mail
> Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters
>
> The following is a first-hand account of police
> harassment and brutality against a World Can't Wait
> organizer in Cleveland. If anything like this
> happens to you, let us know asap! Contact
> info at worldcantwait.org.
>
> My name is Carol Fisher, and I am on the staff of
> Revolution Books in Cleveland OH. At the bookstore
> we have been immersed in building and supporting the
> initiatives of World Cant Wait. Yesterday, 1.28.06,
> while putting "Bush Step Down" posters on telephone
> poles along a major thoroughfare on a sunny Saturday
> afternoon, I was brutalized by Cleveland Heights
> police, charged with 2 counts of felony assault and
> held incommunicado under police custody in the
> hospital! This outrage and others like it must be
> exposed and opposed by all who hate the direction
> that the Bush regime is taking this country and the
> world.
>
> Here is what happened:
>
> I had set out from my house with a full agenda, to
> contact lots of people and get out materials about
> our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State
> of the Union address, and the call to march around
> the White House on Feb. 4th. My first stop was the
> an area known for its community of artists and
> progressives, where I stapled up posters for blocks
> and was greeted warmly by those who saw and
> appreciated what World Cant Wait is doing. I talked
> to an artist, and a Palestinian store owner who took
> fliers to distribute to customers.
>
> Next stop, to the east side. I drove down a street
> in Cleveland Heights, another area known for its
> diversity and progressive history. This street was
> badly in need of postering too and though i was in a
> big hurry, I couldnt drive on without getting up a
> few signs. Before long a cop called from across the
> street: "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine for doing that!"
> Oh really, since when? Another way of keeping us
> from getting the word out, eh? But not wanting to
> get arrested, I said ok and put up my staplegun and
> walked away. But that wasnt the end of it. "Ma'am!
> Hundred dollar fine unless you take those posters
> down." He is pursuing me across the street. Damn! OK
> fine, I say, I will take them down (not wanting to
> get into a confrontation, because I have lots to do
> today!) But this too is not enough for the cop. He
> wants my ID. I say I dont have my ID. He grabs my
> arm. I say let go of me, I am not doing anything
> wrong, I will take the posters down. People are
> watching to see what happens, are outraged but very
> afraid. The cop wont let go, he clearly wants more
> grief from me, and he is in the spotlight. He wants
> people to be scared. He pushes me against a store
> window and next thing I know I am face down on the
> sidewalk with two cops on top of me, one with his
> knee in my back. I am trying to call out to people,
> to tell them what the posters are about. They keep
> pushing my face into the sidewalk. I cant breathe.
>
> I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from
> radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is
> slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesnt
> heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring
> chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin
> against the concrete. By this time there are four
> cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed
> behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a
> parkbench and shackle my legs. I am still calling
> out, telling people what this is about. One of the
> cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I
> am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely
> going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the
> EMS, and a fire squad shows up. The cop superviser
> appears and puts his finger in my face: "I dont like
> it when people treat my men like this and if you
> don't obey the law you will suffer the
> consequences."
>
> I am lifted into the EMS truck, hands still cuffed
> behind my back. I ask to make a call and this is
> refused, but a fireman offers to make a quick call
> for me. If not for this, no one would have known
> where I was or what was happening, a fate shared by
> many immigrants in this country. At the hospital, I
> am treated as an arch-criminal. Escorted by four
> policemen, I shuffle into the emergency room, legs
> still shackled, covered with leaves and mud. I think
> to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it
> this far. I would probably be dead by now. People in
> the emergency room are shocked by the scene and by
> what I am saying happened. I probably do look pretty
> crazy by now.
>
> They put me on a gurney and pull the curtains
> around. One female nurse and four male cops. They
> want me to undress in front of the cops. I refuse.
> The cops refuse to leave. Finally the nurse shields
> my body with a gown as I undress and put on hospital
> clothes. I am cuffed to the bed, and two cops remain
> guarding me the whole time. They put in an IV. I
> have no idea what they have in mind. Questions,
> probes, tests and a tetanus shot, a hint from the
> nurses that friends are calling to find out whats
> going on. First they say that one friend is coming
> in to see me, but that never happens.
>
> After many hours a psychiatrist appears to determine
> my sanity. I dont want to talk to him, but have no
> choice. "This information is confidential", I say.
> Well yes, he says, but if the police want the
> information, I don't know if I can refuse... "This
> information is confidential", I repeat, and I tell
> him, there are times when you have to decide which
> side you are on. I have told him why I have wound up
> here and what they did to me, and I tell him, this
> is a moment in history when people have to stand
> firm against these repressive measures. He replies,
> "Fair enough", and proceeds to write a detailed
> record of my injuries.
>
> I dont know it at the time, but outside in the
> waiting room all hell had broken loose. In a very
> short period of time, over a dozen WCW people showed
> up at the emergency room to demand that someone be
> allowed to see me. The WCW people discussed what was
> happening with the folks waiting in the ER, who were
> horrified at what was happening, and very supportive
> when they were shown the posters I had been putting
> up. The police and hospital staff claimed over and
> over that the police were in charge of me, and they
> determine what happens, not the doctors! Another
> example of a police state.
>
> At one point, there was a big confrontation between
> the WCW people and the police, right in the ER. My
> supporters said that we weren't going to leave until
> someone saw me. Some of them were sitting in the
> waiting room holding the big green WCW posters.
>
> The main cop tried to have a "private conversation"
> with the person with medical power of attorney. "
> NO! Come out here in the open where we can all
> hear!" As people gathered to listen to the
> conversation, and enter in their own opinions, the
> police threatened WCW folks with arrest! They
> argued, stood their ground, called this shameful
> (both to the police but also to the nurses who did
> nothing to stand against this shit). The cops kept
> saying that there was no legal right to see me, but
> people responded that, in Bush's America, the law is
> whatever the police say it is and that there is a
> moral and ethical right to to check on someone who
> is in the hospital.
>
> Then a large phalanx of cops came. My friends pushed
> it as far as they could, then marched out of the ER,
> followed by the cops, all the way up to the street.
> 4 more people showed up who'd heard about what was
> happening and wanted to help.
>
> A lawyer and a doctor, who are endorsers of the WCW
> Call, persisted in getting what info they could. All
> the while, people were calling the local media (who
> never showed up!), calling in complaints to the
> Cleveland Heights Police Department, and Cleveland
> Heights City Hall. I was never able to be seen by my
> own nurse or doctor or communicate by phone with
> anyone.
>
> Shortly after being released from the hospital, I
> was released on my own recognizance. The battle is
> far from over. This is but one example of the
> attempts that the state, their authorities and
> spokespeople will make to try to keep us from
> opposing the crimes of this regime, and especially
> now, 2 days before the State of the Union address.
> Our cause is as righteous as it gets, and no
> attempts to intimidate or suppress, with threats or
> laws or physical abuse, should stop us but instead
> strengthen the resolve, build our organization and
> further demonstrate to the world that this regime is
> doomed, they are vicious, and they must be stopped.
>
> As it says in the Call, "If we speak the turh, they
> will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to
> stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and
> around the world, and as we get this going we are
> going to reach out to the people who have been so
> badly fooled by Sush and we are NOT going to
> stop...The future is unwritten. Which one we get is
> up to us."
>
> There are plans in the works for possibly a press
> conference, suing the Cleveland Heights Police
> Department, taking this issue of brutality to the
> Cleveland Heights City Council Meeting on Feb 6,
> doing a press conference, and circulating a pledge
> of medical personnel to not allow medical treatment
> to be run by the police. We will also be working
> with lawyers to fight these outrageous charges. If
> any legal aid could be offered nationally, it would
> really help.
>
> Call the Cleveland Heights Police at 216-291-3883
>
> Call Cleveland Heights City Hall at 216-291-4444
>
> Please contact us at cleveland at worldcantwait.org or
> 216-633-6200
>
>
>
>
>
> "I would rather lose in a cause that will some day
> win, than win in a cause that will some day lose.
>________________
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Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
204 S. Lynn St.
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 355-7947
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