The following is a letter of protest sent to the Santa Cruz City Council for the police assault of Shane (Tammy) Maxfield.
Santa Cruz City Council,
I am writing to protest the assault and false arrest carried out against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield by Santa Cruz Police Officer Brierly. A description of that arrest from an eyewitness follows this letter.
You as the City Council are the boss of the police and hold direct responsibility for the outrageous violations of civil liberties that are routinely carried out by your police department.
Yours is a police a department that has been successfully sued for its violations of free speech rights, a department that has violently broken up a protest against the war in Yugoslavia, a department that purposely targets activists for harassment, brutality and false arrests, a department that murdered activist John Dine in cold blood, a department that has been caught spying on and infiltrating anti-war organizations, a department that purposely targets the poorest of the poor for harassment, brutality and false arrests under the direct orders of the anti-homeless laws that you as a City Council have passed, a police department that targeted the Blue Lagoon, a gay bar, for special homophobic treatment eventually costing the City in a settlement of well over a million dollars.
The homophobic hate crime that Officer Brierly has now carried out against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield is just one in a long list of crimes carried out by your police department. Your encouragement of past crimes has led directly to this most recent one. The Santa Cruz Police department is sending out a strong message that Santa Cruz is not safe for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community and that the City no longer wants their tourism dollars.
I demand that Officer Brierly be immediately fired from the police force for his hate crime against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield and that Officer Brierly be jailed on the charge of felony assault for his criminal violence and reckless endangerment of the life of a person suffering with HIV/AIDS.
Sincerely, Steven Argue
Liberation News
lists.riseup.net/www/info/...ation_news
Protest Messages Can Be Sent To:
City Council: citycouncil@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Cynthia Mathews: cmathews@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Ryan Coonerty: rcoonerty@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Emily Reilly: ereilly@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Tim Fitzemauric: tfitzmaurice@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Tony Madrigal: tmadrigal@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Ed Porter: eporter@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Mike Rotkin: mrotkin@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Police Auditor: PoliceAuditor@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
CC Steven Argue: Steveargue2@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 16:16:07 -0700 (PDT)
From:
Subject: case #065-04163
To: dao@co.santa-cruz.ca.us
District Attorney Bob Lee: May 3, 2006
I am a witness in the case of Shane(Tammy) Maxfield, case #065-04163. Shane was handcuffed and forced to sit down against the chainlink fence on Pacific Ave/Church for "directing traffic." He was actually helping a friend and another witness, David Bliss jump David's battery to move his van out of the handicapped space.
The officer refused to give me his name and badge number. I begged him twice not to arrest Shane as he is severely ill with AIDS and has just started a dibilitating HIV cocktail of Trevada and Sustiva. He laughed at me and said "That's not gonna happen." I told him Shane might die of stress in jail and he guffawed and shrugged me off.
It was apparent the officer realized he hadn't charged Shane with anything yet as he pulled Shane up by his coat, slammed him against the fence and forced the top of Shane's head to barely touch him. He said: "Now I've got you for battery." This was in full public view of at least 40 witnesses at 1 PM on April 25,2006. Before the sergeant could take stories from witnesses Shane was put in the police car and taken to jail. His arraignment is May 15, 2006. The jail personnel were sympathetic and thought the whole incident ridiculous.
It is a travesty of justice to allow a police officer with NO communication skills arrest a severely ill man for helping a friend (the van was already jumped and ready to go when the arresting officer on the beat got there) This officer should be removed from the police force as he is nothing more than a thug in a uniform. He is guilty of police brutality, false arrest and battery upon Shane not the other way around.
Santa Cruz City Council,
I am writing to protest the assault and false arrest carried out against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield by Santa Cruz Police Officer Brierly. A description of that arrest from an eyewitness follows this letter.
You as the City Council are the boss of the police and hold direct responsibility for the outrageous violations of civil liberties that are routinely carried out by your police department.
Yours is a police a department that has been successfully sued for its violations of free speech rights, a department that has violently broken up a protest against the war in Yugoslavia, a department that purposely targets activists for harassment, brutality and false arrests, a department that murdered activist John Dine in cold blood, a department that has been caught spying on and infiltrating anti-war organizations, a department that purposely targets the poorest of the poor for harassment, brutality and false arrests under the direct orders of the anti-homeless laws that you as a City Council have passed, a police department that targeted the Blue Lagoon, a gay bar, for special homophobic treatment eventually costing the City in a settlement of well over a million dollars.
The homophobic hate crime that Officer Brierly has now carried out against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield is just one in a long list of crimes carried out by your police department. Your encouragement of past crimes has led directly to this most recent one. The Santa Cruz Police department is sending out a strong message that Santa Cruz is not safe for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community and that the City no longer wants their tourism dollars.
I demand that Officer Brierly be immediately fired from the police force for his hate crime against Shane (Tammy) Maxfield and that Officer Brierly be jailed on the charge of felony assault for his criminal violence and reckless endangerment of the life of a person suffering with HIV/AIDS.
Sincerely, Steven Argue
Liberation News
lists.riseup.net/www/info/...ation_news
Protest Messages Can Be Sent To:
City Council: citycouncil@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Cynthia Mathews: cmathews@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Ryan Coonerty: rcoonerty@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Emily Reilly: ereilly@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Tim Fitzemauric: tfitzmaurice@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Tony Madrigal: tmadrigal@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Ed Porter: eporter@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Mike Rotkin: mrotkin@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
Police Auditor: PoliceAuditor@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
CC Steven Argue: Steveargue2@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 16:16:07 -0700 (PDT)
From:
Subject: case #065-04163
To: dao@co.santa-cruz.ca.us
District Attorney Bob Lee: May 3, 2006
I am a witness in the case of Shane(Tammy) Maxfield, case #065-04163. Shane was handcuffed and forced to sit down against the chainlink fence on Pacific Ave/Church for "directing traffic." He was actually helping a friend and another witness, David Bliss jump David's battery to move his van out of the handicapped space.
The officer refused to give me his name and badge number. I begged him twice not to arrest Shane as he is severely ill with AIDS and has just started a dibilitating HIV cocktail of Trevada and Sustiva. He laughed at me and said "That's not gonna happen." I told him Shane might die of stress in jail and he guffawed and shrugged me off.
It was apparent the officer realized he hadn't charged Shane with anything yet as he pulled Shane up by his coat, slammed him against the fence and forced the top of Shane's head to barely touch him. He said: "Now I've got you for battery." This was in full public view of at least 40 witnesses at 1 PM on April 25,2006. Before the sergeant could take stories from witnesses Shane was put in the police car and taken to jail. His arraignment is May 15, 2006. The jail personnel were sympathetic and thought the whole incident ridiculous.
It is a travesty of justice to allow a police officer with NO communication skills arrest a severely ill man for helping a friend (the van was already jumped and ready to go when the arresting officer on the beat got there) This officer should be removed from the police force as he is nothing more than a thug in a uniform. He is guilty of police brutality, false arrest and battery upon Shane not the other way around.
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