The 2nd Avenue Deli Alibi

More reason to keep every single receipt for at least three months: A Columbia architecture student proved he was not a Critical Mass biker protesting President Bush (and the lack of transportation alternatives) by showing his 2nd Avenue Deli receipt. One August 27, Alexander Pincus was arrested outside the deli, where he had just purchased $96.50 worth of food for his sick girlfriend. He was taken to Pier 57 with hundreds of others. The Daily News reports that while the police "dumped his food, Pincus insisted that they make out a property voucher." The property voucher and another receipt provided by the 2nd Avenue Deli aided in the charges against Pincus being dropped. Ha! Gothamist wonders if Pincus is part of the lawsuit that charges Pier 57 was disgusting, as well as if his smart thinking was aided by watching lots of Law & Order.

The site for the Second Avenue Deli. And Mike from Satan's Laundromat was also arrested on August 27, but he was part of the protest.

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By Jen Chung in News on December 1, 2004 9:19 AM

Comments [rss]

Mike

For legal reasons, and for the record, I must protest the categorization that I was part of the protest. I can neither confirm nor deny that this is so, and I ask Gothamist to retract its statement.

JarJar

Ok 96.50 bucks for food for his sick girlfriend? Anyone fells something's amiss about that?

Mike B.

Yeah, it's irksome that this is described as a "happy ending" when he's out a hundred bucks (not fun for a grad student), got in trouble with his girlfriend and probably spent the whole weekend in jail, and when he probably didn't have any more punishment coming to him anyway.

Of course, much of the point of the mass arrests was that far more would be lost to the victims than could ever be compensated.

Brian Van

Is there nothing that gets done in return for the unfair arrest? I don't mind the idea of proper police enforcement, and people do make mistakes, but it aggravates me every time I hear a story like this where something unjust was done and you don't hear a peep of an apology or a cent of a compensation payment.

Wouldn't it be really cheap for the city to have these cases settled out of court for $500? (plus the cost of the food of course) Or are they just going to pay a bunch of lawyers tens of thousands of dollars to affirm their own self-righteousness if he does indeed sue?