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TRIAL UPDATE: June 4, 2004
NYCLU Legal Challenge To NYPD Protest Policies Enters Third Day
June 4, 2004 -- The third day of the New York Civil Liberties Union trial challenging police practices against protesters continued in Manhattan before U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet. The injunction would stop the city’s heavy-handed police practices at demonstrations. The NYCLU is especially concerned about their impact on the right to protest when the Republican National Convention convenes in New York City in August.
On Friday, NYPD Chief Joseph Esposito testified. In response to questions by Christopher Dunn, Associate Legal Director of the NYCLU, Esposito admitted that his department had no written policy on the use or deployment of metal barricade pens and mounted police at protest demonstrations. Esposito also acknowledged he had ordered the horses into a crowd at one point during the February 15, 2003 anti-war demonstration and described the deployment of horses to clear the clogged street in that case “normal.” Later, Chief Esposito, who is the City’s highest ranking uniformed officer, testified that it was not necessary to have a written policy on “getting in or out of the pens.”
In response to questions from NYCLU attorney Christopher Dunn, Chief Esposito also acknowledged that written policies regarding metal barricade pens, horses and access routes to demonstrations would not undermine security or law enforcement.
The trial continues on Monday, June 7, when NYPD Lieutenant Dennis Gannon and Deputy Inspector Michael J. McEnroy will testify.
Copies of the complaints and other legal filings can be accessed via the right-hand column of this website.
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