Richmond PD Get Blocked by Angry Crowd

Back in the 70's the Richmond PD were known as the Cowboys and were notorious for brutality. I know people who came up in Richmond and have heard some crazy stories about the RPD. It's easy to forget about Richmond, but given the large numbers of poor and fucked over people it could and should be the sight of more contestation in the future.

Several arrests were really uncalled for.
In one case, many people witnessed an officer actually draw his gun, inside of this large crowd, when the initial arrests were for very small graffiti drawing on the underside of a freeway overpass behind a bush. I don't know what the charge for the later arrests were.

I think it would be worthwhile to rethink these tactics. I was a little surprised at the initial minimal police presence at the rally as well as the peaceful colorful quality of the event on the whole! As rainfall shifted our convergence to the shelter of the freeway underpass bridge, the free flowing atmosphere of the event also changed. I witnessed the escalation as an activist was arrested apparantly for making a statement with paint. There was a strong feeling of unity among those in the crowd who did not want anyone arrested, spontaneous actions commenced including a sit-in to block the police car from leaving the area with the arrestee. I also heard loud chanting and watched as protesters pounded on the cop car. Some wrangling took place perhaps as a result of the flat tire incident. I don't wish to defend the cop and yet... I guess I can understand why he felt compelled to call for back up.

Can someone please post on indymedia about the status of the various arrested people. Who was charged with two felonies, and what would these be? (I definitely didn't see anything of that sort, although police could probably accuse anyone who laid a finger on them of whatever they want - hopefully there is video of this.).
Seriously, any 6th grade class could analyze the situation and see things that the police should have done very differently.
It's quite true that there were only a few police, and after the talks and Art and Revolution, everyone seemed to be fixing to walk home because it was starting to rain. If those two CHPs, who did not appear to be particularly freaked out by the size of the crowd, had just had the sense to write out tickets for those two, who had done the equivalent of littering, everyone would have gone home w/o incident. Running red lights endangers life but they wouldn't think of bringing someone in.
When the backup people came, suddenly there was a minute where they started to get out of control shoving people, quite a lot of it really uncalled for, although #149 might have been there all along.

I was one of about 10 people who witnessed officer 149's aggressive tackle of one of the non-violent protestors. While it is true that officer 149 put his hand on his gun and motioned like he would pull it out, it is not true that he actually drew his gun as frency wrote at 11/10/01 9:54pm. It is possible that frenchy was refering to different incident that I did not witness, but I believe that this was the incident she was refering to.

Ryan is still in jail after being arrested Saturday. He's facing two felonies (battery on a "peace" officer, and lynching) and 50,000 dollors bail. Ryan's legal team has asked for a show of public support at Ryan's arraignment Tuesday afternoon. The arraignment, schedule for 1:30PM, will take place at the Martinez Courthouse, on Court St at the end of Martinez's small downtown strip. Martinez is accessible by Amtrak ($14 round trip) or AC Transit (theres a bus from the North Concord BART).

Ryan needs our support, lets not let him down.

Fuck Ryan!

what is YOUR problem?

I witnessed (from afar) the police tackle this person (Ryan) to the ground and it was brutal. I did not personally see what he did, but this is what an eyewitness told me:

First of all, the original arrest for graffiti-ing was done NOT by Richmond police, but by a CHP officer (who was 'kind of a cowboy'). Then there was a woman jumping up and down holding a flag, about 7 feet away from the police car where the original arrestee was being held. Officer 149 became enraged at her, stepped over and grabbed the flag out of her hand. Ryan stepped up behind and took the flagpole by the end, then ran off with it. Then he was smashed to the concrete with heavy knees to his head. He did in no way interfere with the prisoner, which is the definition of "lynching" of which he was accused.

Apparently this is all on videotape.

I'm Ryan, hi. I'm not in jail anymore. I believe no charges were filed.

I'm considering legal action against Ofc Sweeney #149, Richmond PD. Any witnesses to his action on Saturday should call my attorney Larry Hildes 510-845-9788.

-Ryan