There goes this month’s parking ticket profits.
The city has agreed to pay a $257,000 settlement to 32 Bushwick teenagers who were rounded up and arrested while walking to a friend’s funeral.
On May 21, 2007, the group was on its way to a wake for Donnell McFarland, 18, a member of a Bloods gang faction in Bushwick, when officers from the 83rd Precinct stopped them and charged them with unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct. According to the kids’ attorney Michael Scolnick, six of the boys and girls, each under 16 years of age, were in custody from two to six hours and cuffed to a pipe or a vending machine.
During a rally at 1 Police Plaza earlier today, the group announced each teenager will receive between $9,000 and $23,000 for being falsely arrested and prosecuted.
As in the recent Gamalier Reyes incident, the exact truth may be somewhere in between the two sides’ accounts. But the law has ruled in favor, this time, of the defendants.
mopar April 21st, 2009 at 8:06 am
Diego, if you read the NYT account, it says witnesses said the kids were doing absolutely nothing but walking down the street. I find it all too plausible that the cops saw a group of teenagers and automatically thought they were up to no good — just because they were there in a group. Why imply the children may have been guilty of something when all the available evidence says they weren’t? The Reyes incident just happened and we don’t know the full story.
Jimmy Legs April 21st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
i remember when this happened that it seemed fishy. the cops overreacted due to paranoia about supposed gang reprisals at the funeral. really, how often does that happen? it’s like that rumor about gang attacks on halloween that everybody freaked out about. much ado about nothing. just too bad our tax dollars have to pay out because the cops were dicks.
jb April 21st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
well here we go gain people who know nothing about yuppie liberal nothing. as for those poor unfortunate kids who were mostly over 18 to 20 years of age i dont know when we started calling 20 year old adults kids but what ever. as for those kids they all have extensive criminal backgrounds to include robbery and drug sales but i guess thats ok just as long as its not u people they are robbing, who think the world is the same as it was when u came to bushwick from idaho or wherever u came from. but reality check they were attending a funeral for a gang member named fresh of the pretty boy family an affiliate of the bloods…. must be good kids.. u can just utube or myspace them to see how young and inocent they are. as for a orderly walk to the train most of them were walkin on top of cars and destryoing store fronts but the owners were to scared of the crowd of over a 100 so called kids in gang colors of purple and red to press charges but of course ur liberal we are the world news papers failed to report that. so before u comment on a subject u people know nothing about go to a community council meeting at the 83 pct and see the real decent people of bushwick express there concerns the proper way and u will see the real destruction and devastation these so called kids do to the community..
Jeremy Sapienza April 21st, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Sorry mopar, all available evidence provides a very confusing picture, actually, for those of us who were neither there nor know anyone who was. There is absolutely no denying these kids have gang connections, but we don’t know to what extent (I’m sure someone does). Diana Reyna sided with the cops on this one — she must have more sources in the community than we do. So it’s not quite as cut-and-dry as Make the Road may claim it is.
Rod April 22nd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Is NYC serious! They will pay this criminals for acting stupid in the streets. OK go to a funeral, but do you have to disrespect people, get in top of cars, and say 1,000 times (fxxx, mxxxx fxxxx, fxxxxxx) PLEASE GOD!! help me understand this beautiful city and our politicians. Make the Road should focus in kids that want a better live for themselves, not in this criminals.
I’m Hispanic so don’t come with your racist BS please
Kiki April 23rd, 2009 at 1:19 am
Hey Rod,
I’m going to respond to this backwards:
First of all, one can be ‘Hispanic’ and racist or classist. Actually if we want to talk racism in the Spanish/Latino community you know there is a WHOLE bunch to be said. Just to point that out.
I don’t care what you may have done a different day. It is not a crime to be young and of color. In this country, we have these things called laws and rights, and on that day, the NYPD broke them. We are now paying the consequences.
and hey jb,what in the world are you talking about? I’d like to respond but your post is fairly unintelligible. By the way, if you want to discuss gangs, poverty and other correlates, I can refer you to some wonderful articles to get a better idea of what’s going on.
BTW, I’m thrilled by the outcome of this case, and as a NYC native, any Idaho comment is a bit off. ;-)