Narcs Hassle Senior in SF

S.F. COPS HASSLE CHRON READER -- TWICE


Open letter to the Honorable Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco:

While sitting on public sidewalks reading the San Francisco CHRONICLE, I've been hassled by plain-clothes narcotics officers, TWICE in recent months.
They approach me in pairs, and ask where can they buy pills, "around here".
I can't believe they really think I'm a dealer. Living in the Tenderloin, I have daily opportunities to study the behavior of genuine dealers, who operate brazenly, even counting their cash openly. If I were dealing, I would be alertly watching my surroundings, noticing potential opportunities and hazards, NOT reading a newspaper, oblivious to passers-by. If I were dealing, I wouldn't be dumb enough to wear a transit identification card around my neck, revealing my full name to strangers.
And at 61, I'm too old to fit the dealer profile. I do look like a potential user, hence unfamiliar dealers sometimes ask, sotto voce, whether I'm "looking". After a dealer gets used to seeing me, he stops asking. Why waste time on a senior who merely turns away, often with a grim expression of loathing?
When a pair of narcotics officers marched up to me on July 2, near the main library, one asked the stereotypical question. In reply, I addressed him as "Officer". His partner nudged him, and they marched away. But then I foolishly lost my temper, and yelled "Pig! Dirty pig!" At a distance, the talking cop turned around, pointed his arm and index finger at me, and yelled "You're going to jail!"
Now I'm terrified. His remark indicates an intent to plant some illegal substance on me, then to claim I was dealing, or at least possessing. Even if the false charge failed to produce a conviction, I'd still spend time in the city jail, probably being denied my anti-depressive medication (Trazodone), which could trigger a mental breakdown.
So please tell your officers that I apologize for outing them. And please beg them, on my behalf, to refrain from framing me.

Your overly outspoken constituent,

Tortuga Bi Liberty,
of Supervisorial District Six,
San Francisco, CA 94109
...

http://pages.prodigy.net/seniornude
http://seniornude.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfbarea/


2 July 2003



Copies to:
Board of Supervisors
Supervisor Daly
Police Commissioner Wayne Friday
...
S.F. Chronicle
Bay Area Reporter
KQED-FM Radio
...
ACLU of Northern California
Coalition On Homelessness
et alii
.......................