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| AFP Photo / Emmanuel Dunand |
This case
could have been a slam dunk for the NYPD, had it not been for one thing: the
video showing police claims of disorderly conduct during an OWS protest to be
completely untrue.
Hundreds
have been arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests, but photographer
Alexander Arbuckle’s case was the first to go to trial – and after just two
days, the Manhattan Criminal Court found him not guilty.
Supporters
of the OWS protest movement have already hailed the ruling as a major legal
victory.
Arbuckle
was arrested on New Year’s Day for allegedly blocking traffic during a protest
march. He was charged with disorderly conduct, and his arresting officer
testified under oath that he, along with the protesters, was standing in the
street, despite frequent requests from the police to move to the sidewalk.
But things
got a little embarrassing for the NYPD officer when the defense presented a
video recording of the entire event, made by well-known journalist Tim Pool.
Pool's
footage clearly shows Arbuckle, along with all the other protesters, standing
on the sidewalk. In fact, the only people blocking traffic were the police
officers themselves
His lawyers
said the video proving that testimony false is what swayed the judge, and the
verdict a clear indication that the NYPD was over-policing the protests.
The irony
of the case, however, is that Arbuckle was not a protester, or even a supporter
of the Occupy movement. He was there to document the cops’ side of the story.
A political
science and photography major at NYU, Arbuckle felt the police were not being
fairly represented in the media.
“All the
focus was on the conflict and the worst instances of brutality and aggression,
where most of the police I met down there were really professional and
restrained,” the student said.
However,
his good intentions only landed him in trouble. As with all the other detained
protesters, the police offered Arbuckle an Adjournment in Contemplation of
Dismissal (ACD), which basically means he would be let off the hook if he
agreed not to fight the charges. But to Arbuckle, that meant an admission of
guilt, and he decided to take the case to trial.
Katerina Azarova, RT
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