D.C. Council Probing Police Conduct in Protests
Submitted by Reverend Chuck0:D.C. Council Probing Police Conduct in Protests
By Arthur Santana
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 29, 2003; Page B03
The D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct by police, including wrongful arrests and excessive force, in dealing with protesters during the past several months.
The resolution authorizing an investigation, put before the committee by Chairman Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) and approved by council members Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) and Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7), comes after two lawsuits filed by globalization protesters alleging they were wrongly arrested last fall.
Approval of the resolution grants the committee subpoena power. Patterson said yesterday that she intends to have two days of hearings in June and that she expects to call police officials to ask about the department's policy and behavior during several events.
Patterson said she preliminarily intends to call Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey to testify.
Ramsey said he is prepared to face the committee. "I don't have a problem with that," Ramsey said. "I think our folks do a good job in handling these large events. Nothing's 100 percent, but I think we do a very good job in dealing with this, and I'm more than happy to come and answer any questions that the committee may have."
Patterson said that the police department sent a report of the mass arrests of protesters in Pershing Park to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) on Jan. 25, but that she has not heard from him. "I had hoped Mayor Williams would take seriously the internal affairs conclusion that his department wrongfully arrested hundreds of people last September," Patterson said. "Ninety days after receiving that report, he has not held his subordinates responsible."
Spokesman Tony Bullock said that the mayor has looked into the matter. He said that Ramsey has taken disciplinary action against some police officers involved in the mass arrests and that the mayor is reviewing them. "But we don't discuss those publicly," Bullock said.
Ramsey said the only disciplinary actions taken were letters of reprimand to the officers involved at Pershing Park, where 400 people were arrested after failing to disperse. But an internal investigation found that officers never told protesters to leave.
Two groups of activists have filed suit -- one in November and the other last month -- on behalf of nearly 400 globalization protesters arrested by D.C. police at Pershing Park on Sept. 27. The plaintiffs, who allege that the arrests were unconstitutional, are awaiting word on whether a federal judge will certify their claims as a class action. The judge also will decide whether the plaintiffs will be represented by the local American Civil Liberties Union or the Partnership for Civil Justice, a D.C. law firm.
"The city council has a right to insist on answers," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the local ACLU. "And we agree with the council that's it more urgent to get to the bottom of this and to prevent this kind of action in the future than to protect the city's position in litigation."
Patterson said she also wants to know about allegations that D.C. police closed down protesters' offices before demonstrations took place in April 2000 during meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
She also intended to ask police officials about a WRC-TV (Channel 4) news tape showing police beating a demonstrator on the ground and allegations from community leaders that motorcycle officers drove into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on April 12. Ramsey said that he saw the tape of the beating and that it "was an isolated incident that is under investigation."
(c) 2003 The Washington Post Company
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