On September 22, former BART Police Deputy Chief Dan Hartwig will be called to account in federal court for his role in targeting and arresting independent journalist David Morse during a “No Justice No BART” protest at the Powell Street BART station three years ago. Morse was the only credentialed journalist who was handcuffed, arrested, and held in police custody for several hours, while other reporters with and without credentials were all released without citation from a police encirclement.

Plaintiff David Morse is a veteran journalist and long-time member of the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay). At the time of his arrest, Morse had published over 250 separate reports related to the killings of Oscar Grant and Charles Hill and “openly mocked and ridiculed the agency and its officers,” in the words of Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. “These declarations did not go unnoticed at BART,” Corley continued, ruling that the case can go forward to trial.

Judge Corley also noted that BART took the unusual step of ordering that a “Be on the Look Out” flyer depicting Morse be created and distributed to BART police officers prior to the protest on September 8, 2011. Police radio transmissions, depositions, and other evidence reveal the strong focus BART police had on Morse prior to and during the protest.

The trial is expected to last five days starting on Monday, September 22, with proceedings scheduled to occur from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The trial will be held in Courtroom “D” on the 16th floor of the US District Court in San Francisco with the Honorable Judge Scott Corley presiding.

UPDATE: Verdict in BART PD Trial, September 29: The jury in US District Court found that — despite BART police admitting across the board to reading countless Indybay articles by Dave Id which severely criticized BART police and named names, despite Deputy Chief Fairow ordering a flier be created identifying Dave Id as a subject for police focus during the 9/8/11 Powell Street station protest, despite BART police discussing arresting Dave Id at a planning meeting prior to the protest (even though all officers who testified said Dave Id had never committed a crime at a previous protest), despite BART police tracking Dave Id throughout the protest, and despite Deputy Chief Hartwig choosing Dave Id to be very first person arrested when all other journalists were released from a police kettle (many of whom lacked credentials and merely held cameras) — Deputy Chief Hartwig did not retaliate against Dave Id for his hundreds of critical reports on BART police. Dave Id and Indybay strongly disagree.

Read more | Legal documents

Previous Coverage: Federal Judge Rules That Indybay Journalist Can Sue BART Police For Retaliatory Arrest | Indybay Coverage of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement

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