NYPD arrests college student and keeps her in jail for 36 hours for not carrying ID.

The arresting officer came by the cell, Samantha Zucker said, to make snide remarks about finding her with a friend in Riverside Park after its 1 a.m. closing.

“He was telling me that I needed to get a new boyfriend, that I should get a guy who takes me out to dinner,” Ms. Zucker said. “He mocked me for being from Westchester.”

Early in the morning on Oct. 22, a Saturday, Ms. Zucker, 21, and her friend Alex Fischer, also 21, were stopped by the police in Riverside Park and given tickets for trespassing. Mr. Fischer was permitted to leave after he produced his driver’s license. But Ms. Zucker, on a visit to New York City with a group of Carnegie Mellon University seniors looking for jobs in design industries, had left her wallet in a hotel two blocks away.

She was handcuffed. For the next 36 hours, she was moved from a cell in the 26th Precinct station house on West 126th Street to central booking in Lower Manhattan and then — because one of the officers was ending his shift before Ms. Zucker could be photographed for her court appearance, and you didn’t think he was going to take the subway uptown while his partner stayed with her at booking, did you? — she was brought back to Harlem.

There she waited in a cell until a pair of fresh police officers were rustled up to bring her back downtown for booking, where she spent a second night in custody.

The judge proceeded to dismiss the ticket in less than a minute.

News about the Police Department lately could run under the headline of the daily Dismal Development, starting with a judge declaring Tuesday that an officer was guilty of planting drugs on entirely innocent people and continuing back a few days to gun-smuggling, pepper-spraying and ticket-fixing.

www.nytimes.com...

The only appropriate response is a slow clap. I ask again ATS, why do we put up with this? What can we do to fix it?

To add from reddit:

TomorrowPlusX (_) 130 points 6 hours ago (152|23)
When I was growing up in the early 80's, my dad told me the reason America was great was because, unlike the communist countries, no cop could ever demand your papers. You had an unassailable right to not have identification on you (obviously, barring driving), should you choose.
He called it 'freedom', and I think it might not have been as true back in the day as he believed, but it sure as # is gone now.

Well there is a law saying that I.D. must be present. Thing is, it's not court worthy if you're caught without one. Only an asshole cop would arrest somebody for not having I.D.

reply to post by drew1749


You know what's funny?

She'll be allowed to vote without said ID.

How ironic is that?

As recently as 1990 you could literally tell a cop to get bent if he asked for id; unless you were driving. Used to be in the US that you did not have to carry your "papers" like in nazi Germany. Look at us now.

reply to post by drew1749

The only appropriate response is a slow clap. I ask again ATS, why do we put up with this? What can we do to fix it?

We fix it the same way we created the problem, individually one person at a time. We created the problem by surrendering to expedience, (going along to get along), and acquiescence to tyranny. We will fix the problem by understanding there is nothing at all expedient about surrendering our rights to tyrants, and that non-acquiescence, in the end, will not be enough.

As for Samantha Zucker, and what she can do on an individual basis, or should have done, was first challenge the jurisdiction of the arrest, ensuring that the judges dismissal would be due to a want of subject matter jurisdiction. The judge may have dismissed for this reason, I do not know. If the judge did dismiss for want of subject matter jurisdiction, this is all the evidence she needs to file a verified complaint (an oath swearing under penalty of perjury that she was injured and that the party causing the injury acted criminally) and have the arresting officers arrested themselves, for such crimes as coercion, extortion, simulating legal process, acting under color of law, impersonating a police officer (if the arrest was dismissed for want of subject matter jurisdiction this means the thugs who arrested here were not acting in any official manner, but instead upon their own private beliefs as private citizens not afforded any immunity their office might afford), malicious prosecution, and obstruction of justice.

Once people begin using the method of verified complaint to force the government to act in the way they are expected to, and start having criminal thug rogue government officials arrested for their crimes, then we will begin to see a willingness by all parties to fix the damn problem. Until that time comes, expect much more of the same.

The problem isn't just the police, the police and their abuses of authority are just one of many issues plaguing the criminal justice system. Our judges are corrupt, the prosecutors who are only interested in if they can win and not if the case has any real merit. Then you have the prison system with all of its flaws, including how to ensure that those who have served their time get a chance to start over.

The system is rigged to prosecute the poor as fiercely as possible, while those with money get off with slaps on the hand. People don't realize just how easily the system can turn them into a criminal, with no real effort on their part. If you want to change what is going on in this country it is time you turn off Dancing with the Stars, Monday Night Football, and the myriad of other things that have distracted the citizens of this country. The only way out is to actively follow and advocate for your rights and freedoms.

Originally posted by Mizzijr
Well there is a law saying that I.D. must be present. Thing is, it's not court worthy if you're caught without one. Only an asshole cop would arrest somebody for not having I.D.

You have something to back that up? Last time I looked that was not the case unless your driving..