[Peace-discuss] New York City Agrees To Largest Occupy Wall Street Settlement Ever

Thu Jun 12 08:30:43 EDT 2014

  City Agrees To Largest Occupy Wall Street Settlement Ever

Screen Shot 2014-06-10 at 11.09.38 PM
Resist! <http://www.popularresistance.org/category/resist/> Law 
<http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/law/>, NYPD 
<http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/nypd/>, Occupy 
<http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/occupy/>, Police 
<http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/police/>
By Nick Pinto, www.gothamist.com 
<http://gothamist.com/2014/06/10/city_agrees_to_largest_occupy_settl.php>
June 11th, 2014
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During Occupy Wall Street's heyday in 2011 and 2012, the NYPD made them 
<http://gothamist.com/2011/10/01/breaking_occupy_wall_street_protest.php> pay, 
again 
<http://gothamist.com/2011/11/15/nypd_evicts_occupy_wall_street_clea.php#photo-1> 
and again 
<http://gothamist.com/2011/09/26/nypd_reportedly_targeting_photograp.php> and 
again, <http://gothamist.com/2012/02/29/video_police_arrest.php> for 
exercising their right to assembly and free speech. Nearly three years 
later, New York City taxpayers are still paying for the NYPD's approach 
to policing lawful protest. Today, lawyers announced the largest 
settlement with New York City yet, with the city paying out $583,024 to 
14 protesters who were arrested for disorderly conduct on January 1st of 
2012.

Sources familiar with today's settlement said that that the case was 
ready to go to trial before Judge Shira Scheindlin 
<http://www.gothamist.com/tags/ShiraScheindlin> until a few months ago, 
when, while being deposed for the trial, a senior NYPD official who was 
present during the arrests was unable to point out in videos of the 
event a single moment when any of the defendants committed any act of 
disorderly conduct.

According to the protesters' complaint, the demonstrators were part of a 
march passing through the East Village that night when police ordered 
them to disperse.

"This was a constitutionally unlawful order," said Wylie Stecklow, a 
lawyer for the protesters, at a press conference at City Hall today. 
"The march was not yet blocking the sidewalk, and just minutes before 
this unlawful dispersal order, the police had ordered the marchers to 
keep walking."

Apparently not content with denying a group of citizens their right to 
assemble, the police then decided to kettle them for good measure, 
surrounding them on 13th Street, preventing them from leaving, all the 
while ordering them to disperse. Finally, the plaintiffs were arrested, 
charged with disorderly conduct, thrown into police wagons, and held at 
the precinct for five hours before being released with desk appearance 
tickets.

By the time their cases made it to prosecutors, the D.A.'s office didn't 
think there were grounds to prosecute, so the charges were dropped. No 
harm done!

Two of the defendants who settled at an earlier stage will receive 
$5,000 from the city. The remaining 12 will receive $20,002. The 
protesters' lawyers will receive $333,000 in costs and fees.

Today's settlement comes on top of the $82,500 paid 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ows-beating-suit-cost-city-82-000-article-1.1541903> 
to a protester to settle a suit alleging he was beat up by cops, the 
$350,000 paid over the city's trashing of media equipment and Occupy's 
library 
<http://gothamist.com/2013/04/10/thanks_nypd_ows_library_wins_settle.php> during 
the eviction from Zuccotti Park, and the $50,000 paid to three people 
apparently arrested 
<http://gothamist.com/2012/11/09/3_occupy_wall_street_protesters_win.php> because 
police thought they might have been thinking of attending a protest later.

The lawsuit over Anthony Bologna's pepper-spraying 
<http://www.gothamist.com/tags/tonybologna> of kettled young women 
hasn't even been settled yet. (For an even more comprehensive and 
dismaying look at how the NYPD handled the Occupy Wall Street protests, 
take a look at this report 
<http://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/suppressingprotest.pdf> 
released by law schools at NYU and Fordham.)

61014presser.jpg
/Lawyer David Thompson of Stecklow, Cohen & Thompson during today's 
press conference (Nick Pinto)/

The Occupy payouts are still dwarfed by the $18 million payout 
<http://gothamist.com/2014/01/15/city_settles_nearly_all_1800_rnc_la.php> the 
City made to the thousands arrested during the 2004 RNC.

David Thompson, the lead lawyer for the protesters, said the settlement 
is clear evidence that the NYPD needs to change how it treats political 
protesters.

"The mass arrest of nonviolent protesters has no place in any 
democracy," Thompson said. "Arresting nonviolent protesters helps to 
protect the true wrongdoers, who are the people, politicians and 
institutions that have corrupted our economic and political life. The 
NYPD pursued a policy of arresting thousands of people who were doing 
nothing wrong."

Payouts to wronged protesters are a start, not an end, Stecklow said. 
The city needs to retrain its police force, which is frequently 
misinformed and mis-trained when it comes to understanding the legal 
circumstances under which they can restrict protesters free speech rights.

"Occupy was and is a demonstration of the disillusionment and sorrow 
that many of us feel about America," said Jennifer Peat, a 36-year-old 
organizer for the Screen Actors Guild, and one of the plaintiffs in the 
suit. "Public speech, and the right to dissent, are core values 
important for our democracy, and I hope that this settlement will lead 
those in power and the NYPD to better respect our First Amendment rights."

"We've often been seen as out of control, or disorderly," said Garrett 
O'Connor, another plaintiff. "This is a demonstration that it was quite 
the opposite. We were out there to send a message, and our rights were 
suppressed."

In a statement, a Law Department spokesperson said, "This involved a 
fast-evolving, complicated policing situation occurring over many hours 
where only a small fraction of protesters was arrested. Settlement was 
in all parties' best interest."

/Nick Pinto <https://twitter.com/macfathom> is a freelance writer who 
previously wrote about Occupy's undercover officer 
<http://gothamist.com/2013/10/10/occupys_undercover_shady_ubiquitous.php> for 
Gothamist. /

      Related Posts:

  * Movie: Parents In The Occupy Wall Street Movement
    <http://www.popularresistance.org/movie-parents-in-the-occupy-wall-street-movement/>February
    28, 2014
  * Pussy Riot Visits NYC Jail To Support Occupy Wall Street Hero
    <http://www.popularresistance.org/pussy-riot-visits-nyc-jail-to-support-occupy-wall-street-hero/>May
    10, 2014

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