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I witnessed a Black woman I know be arrested by Brooklyn police (88th pct) this morning and the reason was a totally bullshit charge. Thread
I was sitting about 20 yards from the incident. It was about 10am this morning. I was sitting in my car because it was alternate side parking time—if we're sitting in our cars we don't get a parking ticket. If we're not we do. The woman's younger sister was in her car...
Two parking cops walked up the block and gave tickets to cars that were empty and ignored cars like mine that had someone in them. For some reason when he got to the woman's car there was a conversation with her sister and the cop cursed at her...
The woman came out from her apartment to find the cop writing her a parking ticket even though her sister had been sitting in the car meaning she shouldn't have gotten a ticket. She yelled at the cop about disturbing her inner peace. As he walked away from her *he tripped*...
I saw it with my own eyes. The cop tripped on a short little gate meant to protect the block's trees from dogs that are pooping. He didn't fall, he just lost his balance for a second. No biggie. But he said she pushed him. Which constitutes Assault 2.
He called a supervisor, who called more cops, and suddenly there were about 10 cops there. I told them she did not push him. 3 others told them she did not push him. They did not care. They arrested her and took her to the precinct.
The officer lied. She did not push him. More, this is so typical of interactions with police—a small infraction that has nothing to do w public safety puts police in contact with citizen. Citizen gets upset about police behavior. Police arrest citizen for not being deferential.
Citizens deserve better than a police force that's arrogant, aggressive, warrior-like & also sensitive. We deserve better than to be attacked over small infractions. We deserve better than to be arrested over a dispute. Also: I'm sure she wouldn't been arrested if she was white.
