After NYPD arrested City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez last November 15th for trying to observe as they evicted Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park, the city decides not to prosecute him because he didn't, you know, do anything illegal.
Via:
A judge on Wednesday dismissed charges against City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who was arrested on Nov. 15 near Zuccotti Park, where the police were clearing the Occupy Wall Street encampment.
The police had accused Mr. Rodriguez, a Manhattan Democrat, of scuffling with a female officer as he tried to get past a barrier a few blocks from the park. He was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. But on Wednesday, an assistant Manhattan district attorney asked a Criminal Court judge to dismiss the charges because she did not have the testimony of the female officer.
“After a thorough investigation, the people have determined that the officers who were involved in this defendant’s arrest had probable cause to arrest him when he attempted to get past a police barricade,” the assistant district attorney, Michele Bayer, said in court. She said that because “we don’t have the testimony of this specific female officer, we cannot prove the charges against this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mr. Rodriguez said by phone that he saw the dismissal of the charges “not only as a victory to the movement, but also as a challenge that we have as a city to be sure that we will get more support from Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly on protecting our constitutional rights.” Commissioner Kelly is Raymond W. Kelly, who leads the Police Department.
When Councilman Rodriguez was released from jail the next night, he had a pretty nasty gash over one eye and said that he had been assaulted by the police. As I reported last November, a friend of mine shared a holding cell with Councilman Rodriguez on the night of his arrest. But no surprise that the DA's office found “no evidence to corroborate” claims that Rodriguez had been beaten with batons for no reason by multiple police officers.
