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Video: Police Captain Ray Lewis Arrested at Occupy Wall Street
Former Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis was arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City on Thursday (video below).
The ex-cop was detained by fellow officers who put toughened plastic bands around his wrists and shoved him down on the sidewalk.
Lewis was among the 300 arrested during the ‘Day of Action’ on Thursday to protest against Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the NYPD for their violent raid of Zuccotti Park earlier this week.
Before his arrest, Lewis had been seen walking around holding up a sign in the face of riot cops saying: "NYPD don’t be Wall St mercenaries."
Lewis said that he would be back out on the streets as soon as he was released.
He also had harsh words for his fellow officers: "They complained about the park being dirty. Here they are worrying about dirty parks when people are starving to death, where people are freezing, where people are sleeping in subways and they’re concerned about a dirty park. That’s obnoxious, it’s arrogant, it’s ignorant, it’s disgusting."
Until 2004, Lewis was a captain in Philadelphia’s police department, one of the few which can rival New York for size.
The veteran cop slammed the NYPD for their tactics: "You should, by law, only use force to protect someone’s life or to protect them from being bodily injured. If you’re not protecting somebody’s life or protecting them from bodily injury, there’s no need to use force."
"And the number one thing that they always have in their favor that they seldom use is negotiation - continue to talk, and talk and talk to people. You have nothing to lose by that. This bullrush - what happened last night is totally uncalled for when they did not use negotiation long enough."
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Comments
Speaking as one who perhaps
Speaking as one who perhaps knows Ray Lewis better than anyone else, while he is to be admired for calling on the NYPD not to be mercenaries for Wall Street, he should also be willing to speak about his totally private 1,000 acre estate that he owns in Upstate New York just adjacent to Yoko Ono's. This private estate of his, which is close to Binghamton, was questionably paid for with Philadelphia money and money that the city of Philadelphia could hardly afford to lose. And Philadelphia to this day without choice is forced to pay the hefty property taxes on it. And I would just love to see Ray Lewis's reaction if all the Wall Street Occupiers were to suddenly start squatting there as opposed to Zuccotti Park. Knowing him as well as I do, I can fully assure you it would be a Ray Lewis singing a totally different tune. So it's just to show a bit of the hypocrisy when right now we need more in the line of consistency.
First, using a police uniform
First, using a police uniform to draw attention to any political view is an abuse of the uniform and grossly inapprorpiate.
Second, the NYPD's job is to maintain order and safety in NY. If people decide to "express" themselves by urinating and defecating in a public park, generally creating health hazards and making it difficult or impossible for law-abiding people to go about their business, then the police need to get them out.
Really, this is not a difficult issue.
The problem is that they're
The problem is that they're not using it as part of their free speech rights. If they would simply throw a crucifix on top of the pile when they were done, they'd be good to go.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.
Yes, this guy should know
Yes, this guy should know what he is talking about when it comes to force, because the Philly PD is known as a bastion of officers who have never used too much force when arresting someone.