top
San Francisco
San Francisco
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

No more scapegoats: Support anti-G8 activist Gabriel Meyers

by atg
Support anti-G8 activist Gabriel Meyers as he goes back to court on July 20, 2006.

Anti-G8 activist Gabriel Meyers goes back to court on July 20, 2006 for a pretrial hearing. One year ago, at the anti-G8 demonstration in SF, a police officer received a head injury. Three folks were originally arrested and charged in connection with the incident. It soon became clear that none of the three were involved.

Nonetheless, it seems that SF prosecutors, in collaboration with the SF police department, have decided that they need a scapegoat, and so they are proceeding to trial against Gabriel Meyers. The crime: he allegedly cried out for help when he was being held down to the ground in a suffocating stranglehold by a cop. This, they say, is "lynching". From a Chronicle article published at the time:

Gabriel Meyers, 28, whose residence is unknown, was charged with felony attempted lynching for allegedly trying to wrest away a prisoner from an officer...
The prisoner he was trying to "wrest away"? Himself!

If you love the G8, support a free hand for SF prosecutors, and want a more efficient police state, then... stay at home. But otherwise, come out to the hearing. It's important that the judge and the prosecutors in this case understand that the local community is solidly behind Gabriel Meyers. Put on your courtroom best and go to 850 Bryant Street, Judge Woolard's courtroom, at 9 a.m. Thursday, July 20, and let's show our support.

(Note: If you go to the hearing, please check the schedule outside of room 101 to verify the time and location.)

Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by fascinierend
Wait, that sounds crazy. It seems like the definition of 'lynching' would need to be the wresting away of another person from police custody. How could it also be applied to a situation of an individual being arrested, themselves? Abstractly, one would think that 'resisting arrest' would be the only description, if someone was not obeying police orders. In addition, in this situation, the person was clearly lying on the ground not particularly moving, but the bright red appearance of his face made it look like trying to hold his neck and sort of writhing around was an involuntary physiological reaction to choking.

Seriously, it seems like the video is quite exculpatory on this count. He wasn't really resisting. The officer was angry and continued choking him because he was unhappy at the group on the sidewalk watching.
by Gabe
Thanks atg for writing the article. Hopefully we won't have to writing a trial date article. Thanks for your support
by clara
Yep, the legal term lynching refers to the act of takin a "suspect" out of an officer's control. In the South, this was largely ceremonial. The Sherrif's would arrest a black person, and a mob would wrest that person from law enforcement. Of course, it was all part of the plan-the sherrif intended to hand the suspect over for a hanging all along, but needed cover in order to do so.

Over the years, the term lynching has been used to describe the actual action of causing someone to be hanged from a tree, but the legal definition remains.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$170.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network