Even if you are a well-know and well-dressed lawyer . . .
Rights lawyer, wife bustedhttp://www.nypost.com/seven/06222007/news/regionalnews/sharptons_cop_shout_pal_busted_regionalnews_brigitte_williams_james_and_perry_chiaramonte.htm
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/06/22/2007-06-22_rights_lawyer_wife_busted.html
BY OREN YANIV, MICHAEL WHITE and LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, June 22nd 2007, 4:00 AM
A well-known civil rights lawyer and his wife were busted in Brooklyn last night for allegedly interfering in an arrest they witnessed, authorities said.
Attorney Michael Warren, who has represented rapper Tupac Shakur and members of the Black Panthers and worked on the Abner Louima trial, said cops punched him and his wife during the incident.
The arrests brought more than 200 angry supporters to the 77th Precinct stationhouse in Crown Heights, where they stood vigil for nearly five hours until Warren and his wife, Evelyn, also a lawyer, were released.
As the crowd chanted "freedom fighter," Warren, who specializes in police misconduct cases, declared, "We are just an example of what is happening in this city every day."
"I got hit in the jaw, upside the head and on my lip a few times, and you can can see that my pants are torn, but I'm fine. I'm great," he said.
After he and his wife left in their SUV, the crowd slowly dispersed.
Police declined to address the allegations of violence at the hands of the arresting officers. Warren was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.
His wife got a ticket for disorderly conduct, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.
Cops were collaring a man wanted on drug possession and auto theft charges about 6p.m. when the lawyers stopped their car at Atlantic and Vanderbilt Aves. in Prospect Heights and began criticizing the officers, a police source said.
Evelyn Warren scratched a female cop's face as she and her husband later were being taken into custody, the source said.
[email protected]
SHARPTON'S 'COP SHOUT' PAL BUSTED
By BRIGITTE WILLIAMS-JAMES and PERRY CHIARAMONTE
June 22, 2007 -- A prominent Brooklyn civil-rights attorney - who has worked with the Rev. Al Sharpton - and his wife were arrested last night after he tried to stop cops from making an arrest, police said.
Michael Warren, 63, and his wife, Evelyn, were in their car at Atlantic and Vanderbilt avenues in Prospect Heights at 6 p.m. when they claim they saw several police officers beating a man.
As narcotics cops tried to make the arrest, Warren got out of his car and tried to stop them, shouting, "You can't do that!"
Warren then re-entered his vehicle, but the cops ordered him out. When he refused, they dragged him out, authorities said.
Warren's wife, who also allegedly refused to get out, was arrested.
The couple was taken to the 77th Precinct station house where a crowd of 200 supporters gathered.
Warren received a desk-appearance ticket for obstructing governmental administration, and his wife got a summons for disorderly conduct.
Warren has worked with Sharpton's National Action Network.
Comments
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Can't wait to hear the "facts" trickle out from both sides on this one.
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(sigh)
Guvna, luv, that's awfully cynical.
The story that I'm seeing thus far . . .
Middle-aged Black professional couple pulled from their vehicle and roughed up by cops when they stop to watch/witness/dispute an arrest in progress.
Is the price of speaking to the police a beat-down?
Do I ever hope there is security camera footage of this event! -
Hard to say - there surely IS a point at which a person would be interfering. Without witnessing it go down, how would you know whether or not they crossed the line? While cops need to be held accountable, you gotta question how smart it is to jump right in. Take out your cell phone and record the event or something....
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Right, let's not arrest anybody. Where's the outrage when young black child loses their life to a stray bullet?
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Yeah Ilikesausage where is your outrage when that happens... that' right you don't give a damn, but it makes a convenient argument for you now.
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pitu wrote: (sigh)
Of course it was cynical! How often does the truth ever get out after something like this? The bad things get reported worse, and the good things get reported better. Who is it that said there are at least three sides to a story. Yours, mine, and the truth.
Guvna, luv, that's awfully cynical.
The story that I'm seeing thus far . . .
Middle-aged Black professional couple pulled from their vehicle and roughed up by cops when they stop to watch/witness/dispute an arrest in progress.
Is the price of speaking to the police a beat-down?
Do I ever hope there is security camera footage of this event!
I would guess that the cops were out of order to some degree, but I wouldnt put it past experienced civil rights lawyers to overreact and aggresively interrupt an arrest that they didnt think was proper. Will we ever find out whether their reaction crossed the line of "interfering with police business"? I can only imagine the scramble for 'cooperative' witnesses, on both sides. It would make me happy if we do eventually get the truth, but I'll not be holding my breath.
While it may be brave to yell "you cant do that" at the police when they are arresting someone, it may well be smarter to catch it on video or camera phone and send it to the press. -
Hear hear, Guvna!
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I love it when a person purchases crack on the corner,then drives away in a stolen car and then when the Police try to stop him, he speeds off crashing into several cars causing multiple accidents. The best part is next when civilians who know nothing of the circumstances involving the arrest try to intervene and create a substantial hazard to the Police and public by obstructing a lawful arrest of a dangerous felon. But i guess thats OK when you're prominent civil rights attorney with links to Al Sharpton and Charles Barron.
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if dude was seriously getting beat down by the cops, i can understand the couple's concern regardless of what his offenses were leading up to the arrest. but i agree with guvna and whyfi that recording the incident instead of donning your cape and swooping in to the rescue is a much better idea.
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King without a crown wrote: I love it when a person purchases crack on the corner,then drives away in a stolen car and then when the Police try to stop him, he speeds off crashing into several cars causing multiple accidents. The best part is next when civilians who know nothing of the circumstances involving the arrest try to intervene and create a substantial hazard to the Police and public by obstructing a lawful arrest of a dangerous felon. But i guess thats OK when you're prominent civil rights attorney with links to Al Sharpton and Charles Barron.
The question is, in the course of that lawful arrest, who gets a beatdown?
The perp?
The witnesses?
I support the police doing their jobs, but we need police to stay within the law too.
There's more in the papers about this case today.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=71023
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyprot255269234jun25,0,592281.story?coll=ny-nynews-printNewsday wrote: LAWYER: I WAS ABUSED
Protests in city after civil rights attorney and his wife accuse police of using excessive force
BY MARLENE NAANES
amNewYork
June 25, 2007
City and state officials are denouncing the arrests of a civil rights attorney and his wife after the couple intervened when, they said, police beat a handcuffed teen in central Brooklyn. Protesters returned to a police station yesterday to rally against the arrests and alleged brutality.
Michael Warren, who once represented Tupac Shakur and the teens charged in the Central Park jogger case, and his wife, Evelyn, said a police supervisor also beat them Thursday after kicking the subdued teen during his arrest on suspicion of car theft.
"They tackled him to the ground," Warren told reporters yesterday at a news conference outside City Hall. "They handcuffed him right away. He was not a threat."
The couple said that six officers beat the teen "like a rag doll." A sergeant turned on the couple when they stopped their car to ask police what they were doing, Warren said. He then arrested the couple.
City Councilwoman Letitia James (D-WF-Brooklyn), who represents the district where the alleged police beatings happened, demanded that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly drop the charges against the Warrens, arrest the sergeant after an investigation and monitor the supervisor's unit.
Police said that Warren interfered in the teen's arrest on drug and grand theft auto charges and resisted his own arrest. Police did not comment on the police brutality allegations, but in a written statement said that "the complainant's allegations against the police have been referred to the Civilian Complaint Review Board."
Warren maintains the sergeant, whom he identifies as James Talvy, swore at him and told him to get into his car. He did and began taking down officers' license plate numbers.
The attorney says that Talvy then punched Warren in the head, took him out of the car, handcuffed him and hit him again. The sergeant then hit Evelyn Warren in the jaw, she said.
Michael Warren was charged with obstruction of justice, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Evelyn Warren was given a summons for disorderly conduct.
Soon after the couple's arrests, word got out to elected officials, attorneys and activists, 200 of whom surrounded the 77th Precinct demanding their release, Michael Warren said.
The Warrens' arrests came on the heels of activists' claims that the NYPD racially profiled young adults arrested at the Puerto Rican Day parade earlier this month. Police said they arrested gang members for a variety of charges, including trying to march uninvited.
"We still have to deal with the reality that if you're a law-abiding citizen, you'll still be treated like a criminal in our community," Assemb. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) said. "All that matters is that you're black, and you have a target on your back." -
If you want to watch an arrest in progress, you're withing your legal rights. Once you interfere with an arrest, than you yourself are subject to arrest. If you weren't happy with the way the situation was dealt with, you may go to any Police precinct and can lodge a formal complaint. A prominent Civil Rights attorney should already know this.
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King without a crown wrote: If you want to watch an arrest in progress, you're withing your legal rights. Once you interfere with an arrest, than you yourself are subject to arrest. If you weren't happy with the way the situation was dealt with, you may go to any Police precinct and can lodge a formal complaint. A prominent Civil Rights attorney should already know this.
All true.
None addressing the extra-judicial beating issue, though.
Like I said earlier, I sincerely hope that there's video of this incident from a security cam. Theoretically I'm not so keen on living in a surveillance society, but when stuff like this happens I surely see the upside of cameras being everywhere.
Our PD has been known to target people with cameras trying to videotape an arrest from an appropriate distance btw. We've been talking about that kind of stuff over on another thread . . .
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31459 -
King without a crown wrote: If you want to watch an arrest in progress, you're withing your legal rights. Once you interfere with an arrest, than you yourself are subject to arrest. If you weren't happy with the way the situation was dealt with, you may go to any Police precinct and can lodge a formal complaint. A prominent Civil Rights attorney should already know this.
Hey Rabbi
Questioning why cops are beating down a suspect like a bunch of gangbangers is not exactly interference. Warren never put his hands on the cop or cops to proactively stop them from pursuing their arrest. -
I believe King without a crown is a cop. And I have to wonder if Warren, the lawyer, is telling all that he did. I read an account where Warren's wife scratched a policeman across the face also, in the ensuing altercation.
I guess what I don't get is that this person who bought crack, stole a car and caused accidents racing through neighborhood streets is the one that Warren said was cooperating and didn't need to be cuffed initially. He couldn't have witnessed all that happened before the arrest, since he came upon the incident when driving.
But,being that he's affilitated with Al Sharpton makes whatever he says gospel, I suppose (excuse the pun of sorts)
Sharpton....man of truth and real concern for fellow man. Maybe some day he'll admit he was wrong with Tawana Brawley and the lives he ruined over that whole situation. People were falsely accused and if I remember correctly, a policeman committed suicide because his life fell apart when he was wrongfully accused by her lies. She finally confessed that she made up all charges to not get in trouble for coming home late. Never heard anyone chastise Sharpton for that debacle, or take any responsibililty of his own.
It's a slippery slope that I'd have to say screams for video to see what really happened here. -
Thanks Dakota, But what i'm saying is pretty clear. If you feel there was any wrongdoing on the part of the Police, you may make a formal complaint. With that being said, to interfere with an arrest of a Violent felon puts the Police and the Public in danger. At that busy intersection there were many spectators, due to the fact that McDonalds is right there, yet the only one that attempted to obstruct the arrest was the Lawyer and his wife, and were subsequently arrested. Following the incident, Charles Barron and crew were all at the precinct demanding the charges be dropped, and with all the pressure placed on the Borough Commanders, the Lawyer was eventually released on a Desk Appearance Ticket and his lovely wife given a Summons. Now that's Justice!!!
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Why did the guy commit suicide Dakotas Way? It would seem that a white man in America would never commit suicide for being accused of raping a black woman even when they are guilty, so the fact that this guy commit suicide should indicate to us something happened there.
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The last interaction I had with the police was protesting against the impending genocide we were about to commit in Iraq a few years back, and it went something like this: the cop told me he was following the law by not allowing us to get over to the protest at the UN, and I responded to him that you are following orders but you are breaking the law. You are within your rights to observe an arrest and object to any criminal activity by the police during the arrest, I wouldn't get involved but if the guy is a lawyer he should know what he is doing more than the cops. What happened to innocent until found guilty; that doesn't apply to everyone I suppose?
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(sigh)
I reckon people commit suicide for reasons far more complicated and personal than any external event. And dakota (who lives outside of NY, and visits us occasionally to check in on her daughter's new neighborhood) is taking us off topic with Tawana Brawley and the Rev Al.
deadbolt guest, I wish you'd register and stick around awhile. Here's why...
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34116 -
The fear of going to jail makes many people commit suicide, and that is a very external event, that is why they take away things you can use to harm yourself even for minor arrests. This guy killed himself because he thought he was going to jail for a crime he committed but he didn't realize the victim was not worthy of protection by the state because of her race. Had she been the Central Pk jogger five or six innocent people would have rooted in jail for twenty years, as was the case.
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I will observe a while longer but I would not feel comfortable joining for obvious bias that I experience toward people who have already been so unfairly violated by society.
Typo I meant to say "rotted" -
I must add that the racism that is exhibited on this site does not compare to that which is expressed on the Brownstoner site. I think they are a little more "well heeled" over there so they take liberties for whatever reasons.
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Thank you Pitu, for explaining who I am.
I wasn't taking this off topic. I was comparing how political or legal entities sometimes jump in during situations alleging things but not really being aware of the series of events that may have occured.
The end result of the Brawley case of a missing 15 year old girl in 1987 ended up proving that she was never raped, had been seen at parties the days she was missing( and said she was abducted and held at that time) and wrote racial epithats on herself in an effort to divert attention from her running away( they knew this because they were written upside down as one would write on their own stomach.) When Sharpton, Maddox and Mason came into the picture the case elevated out of control quickly and it was because these men jumped into a situation without true knowledge of the earlier events. Just as in this case with the lawyer and his wife.
I was just comparing situations with a link between two different men and similar happenstance. -
dakotas way wrote:
I have to tell you that is outrageously offensive. No "similar happenstance" here. These two cases have about zero in common, outside of a six-degrees-of-separation sort of connection.
I was just comparing situations with a link between two different men and similar happenstance. -
Don't be so sensitive.
When I said it was similar it was because each man stepped into something that happened where they didn't know the full details. I didn't say the circumstances were the same at all in what occured.
Lighten up Pitu -
the trouble with saying nothing when witnessing inappropriate behavior, with waiting until later and making a complaint, is that it doesn't do anything to help the person being beaten.
i have heard from people in the neighborhood -- not from a paper, so i can't cite it -- that the police recently beat a man on the block next to mine, that the officers in question were frustrated because they had not been able to apprehend the villains playing the dice game they'd come to break up. according to the person who told me this story, a young (white) woman told them to stop, that the (black) man they were beating wasn't resisting them. they told her she ought to be grateful to them, that they were making the neighborhood safe for people like her.
it does not make me feel safer to have the police inviting those who dislike their methods to consider me (as a white woman) on the side of unnecessary violence. i am grateful that the woman in question argued with them -- if what they were doing was wrong, i don't think it is right to say nothing and let a man be beaten without a complaint.
(again, that is a story that was told to me. i cannot guarantee its truthfulness, though i have no reason to doubt the honesty of the person who told me he had seen it happen.) -
I take this story with a grain of salt just like I do with every story where I don't have access to all of the facts. This has nothing to do with racism, I'm a cynic and firmly believe that the media never tells the true story.
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"I wouldn't get involved but if the guy is a lawyer he should know what he is doing more than the cops"
Apparently Charles "The Cop Hater" Hynes believes theres enough evidence in this case to go foward. I believe he's a Lawyer too! -
I keep reading in the subway
"If you see something, say something!"
I'm not doubting there's a case against the guy being beaten, I'm just saying that case should go to court and the police shouldn't be beating people up in the course of an arrest. I'm glad when people stop and say something - I daresay it's our civic duty.
And dakota, I'm not *sensitive* - you just had it wrong and I'm addressing that. I still think you have it wrong. The lawyer and his wife actually saw what was happening. And it was continuing to happen -- they were stuck in traffic at a congested intersection in Prospect Heights. I'd say they were uniquely qualified and obligated to stop and say something. I hope any of us would have done the same. -
pitu wrote: I'd say they were uniquely qualified and obligated to stop and say something.
I'd also say that they are uniquely positioned to benefit from publicity generated by such a stunt, so I continue to take both sides with big ol' block o' salt. -
And I would (and have in the past) also stop in a heartbeat if I saw something wrong happening and report it to higher authorities.
I agree completely with that stance.
It is the right thing to do.
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