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This is happening every day, but sometimes these stories of the insanity and violence of the fascist state needs to be told
Minister Says Police Split Open Her Head During Berkeley Protests
Minister Says Police Split Open Her Head During Berkeley Protests
26
December, 2014
SAN
FRANCISCO -- As police broke up protests
in Berkeley Saturday
night, a local minister went to the hospital with a gaping head wound
and a concussion -- allegedly the result of an officer striking her
from behind with a baton.
Cindy
Pincus, 29, told HuffPost she was among a group of ministers and
seminary students near the front of the protest as police in riot
gear began advancing to disperse the crowd of hundreds. Pincus said
she was helping a woman who'd fallen when, from the corner of her
eye, she saw an officer swing a nightstick. She said the blow sent
her staggering.
"I
had a brief blackout in my vision. I saw stars," Pincus said.
"I would say it’s an indiscriminate and disproportionate
reaction to peaceful protests. It was completely way out of line."
A
gory photo that Pincus tweeted became widely seen in the aftermath
of Saturday's demonstration.
The
Berkeley demonstration began peacefully to oppose a Staten Island
grand jury's decision on Dec. 3 not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel
Pantaleo for killing Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, with a
chokehold. Hours into the protests, however, stores were vandalized
and some objects were thrown at police. Protests on Sunday
alsoturned
violent,
according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Pincus,
the intern minister at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of
San Francisco and a student at the Pacific School of Religion, said
that she was with people behaving peacefully when she was hit.
Police
had just begun firing tear gas as Pincus stumbled for safety, she
said. Two blocks away from the center of the chaos on Telegraph
Avenue, Pincus met friends who took her to a hospital in nearby
Richmond. She was discharged early Sunday morning.
Pincus
getting examined at the Richmond Medical Center early on Sunday,
Dec. 7.
The
gash to Pincus' head took three staples to close. Two days after
getting hit, she said, she's not sleeping well and has "cloudy
thinking." Health insurance covered some of the cost of the
trip to the emergency room, but the copay amounted to a $250 bill. A
fellow seminarian offered to help pay, she said.
A
Berkeley Police Department spokeswoman said that violent protesters
put everyone at risk, including peaceful demonstrators.
"The
Berkeley Police Department is and remains committed to allowing the
public to peacefully assemble. All too often, some participants of
recent demonstrations commit acts of violence — requiring police
action," Officer Jennifer Coats said to HuffPost via email.
"Acts of violence that can lead to a chaotic situation for
demonstrators as well as officers who are trying to quickly assess
and resolve quickly evolving situations."
At
least 18 people were arrested in
Berkeley during the two
nights of
altercations. The extent of protesters' injuries was unknown. Media
reports said that several
officers were injured.
Officials
at the University of California, Berkeley, told HuffPost that they
weren't sure how many students and faculty might have been injured.
But one creative writing professor offered an extension on an
assignment for any students harmed Saturday night.
If any of my #Berkeley students were teargassed, batoned or shot w/rubber bullets last night, you can have an extension on your essay.
— kaya oakes (@kayaoakes) December 7, 2014
Berkeley
Mayor Tom Bates said Monday to KCBS that
the right to demonstrate has been abused by outsiders.
A
"massive headache" stopped Pincus from joining Sunday's
protests, but she said she'll be back on the street Monday night.
"Just
because I got hit doesn't mean that nobody else will," she
said. "I have to keep going back until police brutality is over
for everybody."
A
third night of demonstrations in Berkeley is scheduled to begin
Monday at 5 p.m. PST.
This
story has been updated to include comment from the Berkeley Police
Department.
Seattle
Cops Drag 68-Year-Old Woman Off Plane, Jail Her For Three Days For
Trying To Change Seats
26
December, 2014
A
68-year-old woman spent three days in jail after Seattle cops dragged
her off a United Airlines flight. Her crime? Moving to an empty seat.
Jean
Mamakos had planned to be skiing in Alaska with the group she was
traveling with and after changing planes in Seattle, the New Yorker
was a step closer to doing so. After the flight attendant shut the
door in preparation for takeoff, Mamakos took the opportunity to
change seats and moved to an empty seat closer to the emergency exit.
That’s when flight attendants flipped out and overreacted.
“One
of the stewardesses said, ‘Oh no you don’t,’ which stopped me
in my tracks,” Mamakos explained to KIRO. “So I went forward and
another stewardess came along and said, ‘Give me your credit
card.’”
Switching
seats is considered an upgrade, and would have cost Mamakos an
additional $109 on top of the thousands of dollars she paid for her
round-trip cross-country flight. So, she went back to her original
seat. Unbeknownst to her, the flight attendants were still making a
fuss, and apparently, they tattled to the captain, who then announced
that someone wanted to get off the plane.
“I
heard the captain say there is a lady who wants to get off the plane
on this flight,” Mamakos said. “So we have to wait. I didn’t
know that was me.”
Like
bouncers at an exclusive club, flight attendants trapped a confused
Mamakos and informed her she was about to be removed from the flight
over a simple misunderstanding. Of course, Mamakos didn’t want to
be removed from the flight at all. She simply thought she could
change seats and after being informed that it would cost her, she
returned to the seat she paid for.
“‘You
have to get off this plane,’” Mamakos reported the flight
attendants saying. In response, Mamakos said “’No, I paid for
this seat, and I’m going to stay here.’”
That’s
when the Seattle cops were called in and a cell phone recording
began.
On
the video, an officer gives Mamakos two choices: “Do you want to
come willingly or be arrested for trespass?” Mamakos replies,
“Whatever you have to do.” The officer then drags Mamakos up the
aisle and off the plane. She was booked and spent the next three days
in a jail cell because it was the weekend and the the courts were not
open for business. In short, it was humiliating.
As
expected, Mamakos is now suing United Airlines for the way they
treated her over something so ridiculous. In truth, she should also
sue the Seattle police department for arresting her on false charges.
Mamakos was on board the plane she belonged on and was in the seat
she paid for. She wasn’t trespassing at all. In fact, she didn’t
commit a single crime. This is not only a case of overreaction by the
airline, it’s another case of police overreaction as well. Mamakos
should never have been arrested or kicked off her flight. She should
have been skiing with her friends in Alaska, but a flight crew and
some police officers decided to ruin her travel plans. And they
should have to pay dearly for the unnecessary hell they put her
through
There is much more to this story. One of her fellow passengers has a video of her behaving very badly, and cursing at everyone, including her fellow passengers who simply wanted to take off for their Alaskan trip.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time Ms, Mamakos sued for millions of dollars. A few years ago in 2002, she sued New York Presbyterian Hospital for $5 million dollars. She alleged that security guards attacked her, tired her to a stretcher, and she was then admitted into their psychiatric unit. Ms. Mamakos dropped her lawsuit.