January 26, 2006
Lawsuit By Way of Bad Metrocard Swiping
Ooh: Apparently a relative of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly wants to sue the city over the NYPD's aggressive behavior! The Daily News says that Arthur Heller, who is the son of Kelly's first cousin, tried to swipe his Metrocard at the 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue subway entrance, but was having problems (Metrotardation?), so he kept swiping. Which then aroused police suspicions - which makes Gothamist concerned about the middle-aged lady this morning who hogged the turnstile for way too long (where were you NYPD?). Anyway, the NYPD allegedly "tried to take [Heller's] subway card, tackled and punched him prior to identifying themselves as police officers." Heller did tell the cops he was related to Kelly, but the police didn't seem to pay attention to that. So now Heller's lawsuit is with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. This begs two questions: Are the police too harsh and what do you do for your first cousin's kid?
Check out the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board - we hope you won't have to use it, but you never know.
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A few observations, some of them in tension with each other:
* Stories like this tend not to be the whole story.
* That said -- it sure sounds like their behavior was unacceptable.
* In general, Cops can be really really thuggish, though, and it intimidates a lot of people -- that alone is an unacceptable curbing of liberites in my book.
* Cops can be really thuggish for multiple reasons: some of them are just fucks. Just like there are fucks who are cabbies, investment bankers, garbage men, etc. Some of them actually think they're just doing their job -- and to them, and all the soliders out there, and other folks "just doing their job" -- we have to remind them that's how facism gripped Europe. Everyone was just "doing their job" -- or doing nothing at all -- to stop a few madmen. Just doing your job is no excuse to be complicit in injustice.
* Kelly has got a lot of heat out there on him re: Civil Liberties and police behavior, so if he bends now -- to his second cousin (that would be what his first cousin's kid is, right?) -- then it'll look bad.
"You can't arrest me, I'm the police comissioner's first cousin's son!"
If he expected that line to work, there's got to be more to this story.
"he tried to swipe his Metrocard at the 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue subway entrance, but was having problems (Metrotardation?), so he kept swiping. Which then aroused police suspicions .... Anyway, the NYPD allegedly tried to take [Heller's] subway car, tackled and punched him prior to identifying themselves as police officers."
Sorry, but it does sound like part of the story is missing here. If swiping repeatedly arouses suspicions, then we're all guilty because some of those turnstiles are just notoriously uncooperative. And tried to 'take his subway car' ??? As in, take it over? Ugh, I want to know the rest ofthe details because I don't like this story thus far.
I know this is completely beside the point here, but people should really give up on the name dropping. Every time anyone near me decides to use the 'I know so-and-so' bit, I want to smack them too. If he was legitimately busted for something, the cops have every right to haul him in regardless of who he knows and without fear of reprisal. No one should be allowed to get out of anything because they are connected. (I know, I know. I live in a dream world.)
I had a friend who was arrested under very similar circumstances -- he was having trouble swiping and an undercover started harassing him. My friend told the guy off, thinking he was just a regular jerk, then got grabbed, cuffed, and taken in.
The police claimed that there's a scam where people bend their Metrocards a certain way, swipe several times, and get a free fare. Sounds like BS to me but hearing the same story twice it seems the police are actually looking out for this.
So the next time you have swiping your card, look both ways or you might get tackled.
"An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to “beg the question.” Here is an example of a question-begging argument: “This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless.” The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use “begs” with this odd meaning (“to improperly take for granted”) in any other phrase, many people mistakenly suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked—raises the question. If you’re not comfortable with formal terms of logic, it’s best to stay away from this phrase, or risk embarrassing yourself."