NYC Agrees to Pay About $16,000 to RNC Demonstrators Kept in Detention Aft

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB0OIFSK7E.html

NYC Agrees to Pay About $16,000 to RNC Demonstrators Kept in Detention After Judge Ordered Release

NEW YORK (AP) - The city agreed Friday to pay $150 each to 108 demonstrators who were arrested during last summer's Republican National Convention and kept locked up even after a judge ordered their release.
In addition to the $16,200, the city will also pay legal costs and attorneys' fees of about $215,000.

The payouts will settle the demonstrators' claims that the city was in contempt of court for not complying with a judge's order to release hundreds of the protesters.

Those arrested can still sue on other grounds, including allegations of excessive force by police.

[shoelace414]

1. yea.. making the city pay $16,000 will make them stop

:sarcasm:

[Snap]

5. OWOWOWOWOW

In Finland, civil fines are based on income. A bigshot at Nokia got nabbed speeding on his Harley and was fined something like 150,000$.

[davidinalameda]

2. how about naming the RNC as co-defendants in any civil suits?

[shoelace414]

3. how about making the people

that made the decision to not release them pay $16,000

[frictionlessO]

4. Wow. That is sorta good.

Now onwards to proving the demonstration was repressed and illegal tactics such as those stated above were used to try and discourage and intimidate the participants.

When will our fellow DU'ers (let alone America) realize that the police are a tool being used by the administration for poilitical purposes?

[obxhead]

14. I'm one

I realize it.
I fought the law and the law won. I see it very clearly.

[Kolesar]

6. Steal an election for $16,000--what a deal!!! eom

[Tempest]

7. Multi-million dollar lawsuit in the works

The D.A.'s office doctored the film of one arrest and presented it to the court.

---------

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/nyregion/12video.html

Among them was Alexander Dunlop, who said he was arrested while going to pick up sushi.

Last week, he discovered that there were two versions of the same police tape: the one that was to be used as evidence in his trial had been edited at two spots, removing images that showed Mr. Dunlop behaving peacefully. When a volunteer film archivist found a more complete version of the tape and gave it to Mr. Dunlop's lawyer, prosecutors immediately dropped the charges and said that a technician had cut the material by mistake.

That was a problem in the case of Mr. Dunlop, who learned that his tape had been altered only after Ms. Clancy found another version of the same tape. Mr. Dunlop had been accused of pushing his bicycle into a line of police officers on the Lower East Side and of resisting arrest, but the deleted parts of the tape show him calmly approaching the police line, and later submitting to arrest without apparent incident.

-----------

Originally the D.A. said the police doctored the tape. After the police went public and said they gave the unedited tape to the D.A.'s office, the D.A. came clean.

Dunlop and his lawyer are in the process of filing a lawsuit against the city.

There was a great segment on this on Democracy Now Tuesday morning.
Link to segment: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/12/1344206

[Zorra]

8. A perfect, shining example of how republicans operate.

They are all corrupt, lying crooks. All of them.

Never, ever trust a republican.

[Tempest]

9. Just to be safe

Never trust any politician, cop or lawyer.

Question Authority

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Oh.. Sounded like it was going to be $16K EACH

Which is still nowhere near enough.

Note that the attorneys got rich. They get a fee if you file for bankruptcy as well. Hmm...

[bobaloo2]

12. Couple of items...

Couple of things.

My daughter was one of the last 10 people released after nearly 72 hours in detention. She opted out of this process and is pursuing an individual suit against the city as are many others, so this doesn't settle all of the claims by any means.

Second, about the attorneys "getting rich". This case was brought by the National Lawyers Guild who provided free representation to anyone involved, they probably have millions of dollars worth of time invested in this. They worked around the clock for days and were just incredible. This money will be used to fund their expenses and similar support the next time it's needed, so the more money they can get the better so far as I'm concerned.

[WhoDaThunk]

13. getting the lawyers' roles straight

I'm really glad to see this clarification about the lawyers and their expenses. It's too easy these days to lay a blanket condemnation on lawyers. It's that kind of sweeping condemnation that made it easy for the repugs to smear John Edwards' name during the election.

I also hope your daughter wasn't too terribly traumatized. It's also easy to dismiss 72 hours of detention out of hand, when the actual experience has to be incredibly hard on some people. I know I'd have a horrible time with it.

[NYC]

15. The National Lawyers Guild is a wonderful organization.

Their legal observers make a world of difference. (I'm always handing out their phone number.)

Sorry about your daughter. Was she in "Guantanamo on the Hudson"?

[ninkasi]

16. Hope your daughter wins, and wins big...

Thanks for the clarification about the lawyers. I'm glad they were able to help, and hope they do get the money needed for the next time, because in Bush's Amerika, there will be one. Or many.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. Ah

Depends upon which lawyers we're talking about. My bad!!! I hope that there is satisfaction for everyone detained!

[realFedUp]

11. hope MSM picks this up

and hope that NYers finally get fed up
and vote out Bloomberg.

[mike_c]

18. $16,000 for the victims of injustice, $215,000 for the LAWYERS?!

That is so bass-ackwards.