Eyewitness account of the assault and false arrest carried out against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield by Santa Cruz Police Officer Brierly.

I am a witness in the case of Shane (Tammy) Maxfield, case #065-04163. Shane was handcuffed and forced to sit down against the chainlink fence on Pacific Ave/Church for "directing traffic." He was actually helping a friend and another witness, David Bliss jump David's battery to move his van out of the handicapped space.

The officer refused to give me his name and badge number. I begged him twice not to arrest Shane as he is severely ill with AIDS and has just started a dibilitating HIV cocktail of Trevada and Sustiva. He laughed at me and said "That's not gonna happen." I told him Shane might die of stress in jail and he guffawed and shrugged me off.

It was apparent the officer realized he hadn't charged Shane with anything yet as he pulled Shane up by his coat, slammed him against the fence and forced the top of Shane's head to barely touch him. He said: "Now I've got you for battery." This was in full public view of at least 40 witnesses at 1:00pm on April 25th, 2006. Before the sergeant could take stories from witnesses Shane was put in the police car and taken to jail. His arraignment is May 15th, 2006. The jail personnel were sympathetic and thought the whole incident ridiculous. Read more, including a letter sent to City Council