Allegations Of Handcuffed Person Beaten At M&D Deli And RIOC Attorney Trying To Intimidate Store Owner From Showing Video To Public- More From The February 16 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Demonstration

An update to previous post on the February 16 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Accountability and Brutality demonstration. (Video of demonstration is here)

Roosevelt Island resident Frank Farance, who first reported the alleged Anthony Jones brutality incident, was one of the final speakers at last Saturday's demonstration. Mr. Farance charged the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors with failure to exercise proper oversight of the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department. According to Mr. Farance, the RIOC Directors do:

... a lousy job of oversight ... they don't have the information and they're unwilling to get the information...

Mr. Farance continued his presentation showing excerpts from a December 9 2012 M&D Deli security video purportedly showing abusive behavior by the Public Safety Department beating a handcuffed person on the knees with a stick.

Mr. Farance also reported being told by the the owner of M&D Deli that a person claiming to be a RIOC attorney behaved in an intimidating manner towards the owner by visiting the store and saying to the owner:

... you're not giving that video to anyone, right?...

Here's the presentation by Mr. Farance:



It's difficult to see the video on the screen used by Mr. Farance during his presentation. Here's a better view. (Even better if you click on Full Screen view though still not absolutely clear what is going on)

Part 1. According to Mr. Farance:

This is the first person being arrested.  The key points are the employee P and employee Q in the next two videos.

Part 2. According to Mr. Farance:

In this video while person X is being arrested, employee P is trying to keep his friend, person Y, out of the arrest process.  At time 02:14:39, you see Public Safety officer #3 come back, holding a cup of coffee in hand, then put the coffee on the top of the fridge and arrest employee P who was trying to protect Public Safety.  By 02:15:02 employee P is already handcuffed and not resisting arrest, but at 02:15:06 PSO #3 is striking employee P with a baton on his knees.

Part 3 According to Mr. Farance:

As Public Safety officers are walking out with Person X, Person Y, and employee P handcuffed, at 02:16:47 the second employee Q appears to ask (presumably) about why they are taking the other employee.  The last two Public Safety officers then arrest employee Q for asking about his fellow employee.

I asked RIOC today for a comment to explain their side of the story. Will update post if answer is received.

Following Mr. Farance, Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Public Safety Committee Chair Erin Feeley-Nahem had some closing remarks for those present at the demonstraton. Her prepared text is below.

I want to thank you all for coming out today, in the cold, and listening to your neighbors concerns, their stories, and especially thank the "witnesses and survivors" who had the courage to come forward and tell the truth, supporting our demands for change.

Together this community can once again be the safe haven that we all originally moved to. Parents will once again not have to fear when their teenage children leave their homes at night, to meet their friends. We expect RIOC, the State, our elected Officials to hear and meet our demands, so that this vision will become reality.

What can you do to help?

Sign our petition, join our committee, and support your neighbor's cause.

Check out our Face Book page "Roosevelt Island Citizens Blotter", and document your story, or send it to me at: erfn315@gmail.com

Get informed: read the February 7th edition of the WIRE, visit their web site and check out the Roosevelt Islander blog. Our Island news media have done a terrific job of keeping our community informed!

Demand that RIOC and the Governor remove the current leadership of the PSD, and Officer Ralph Torrens, the Officer who brutally attacked Mr. Jones.

Demand a Federal investigation into the violation of our Constitution rights, rampant throughout our community under the PSD's patrols.

Write to Speaker Sheldon Silver and ask him to support Kellner's bill. Write to Steven Englebright, the Chair of the State Government Operations Committee, in Albany, where Kellner's bill is sitting, waiting to be voted on and moved forward. Write to the Governor Cuomo demanding that Kellner's bill be passed as well.

What do we want? We want Justice.

What do we want? We want an end to our Constitutional rights being violated.

What do we want?

We want oversight of the PSD, respect from its Officers, and we want to be heard!

Before the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Demonstration ended, New York Civil Rights and Civil Liberties attorney Norman Siegel, who had been sitting in the audience, was invited to speak. Here are Ms. Feeley-Nahem and Mr. Siegel's remarks.



More from the February 16 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Protest Demonstration here.