Brooklyn DA's Office Throws Out Mourners' Arrests

After a public scrutiny over police procedure when dozens of youths were arrested on their way to a gang members' wake, the Brooklyn DA's office has decided to drop the charges of 22 of the arrestees. Ten others will face charges.

Last May, a number of young people were headed to the wake of 17-year-old Donnell McFarland, who police say headed the "Pretty Boy Family, a subdivision of the Bloods gang." The mourners wore t-shirts with McFarland's picture and name, and police arrested the group on the grounds of "public safety" (which the Times explains as "blocking traffic, climbing on cars, wearing T-shirts and flashing signs in homage to their friend’s status as a gang leader"). The police had said a community board warned them about a "faction of the gang" going to the funeral.

However, the arrestees say they were just going to their friend's funeral and didn't understand why they were being apprehended; some added that the police approached them with their guns drawn. The youths were eventually charged with unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct, but the Brooklyn DA's office said yesterday no witnesses could link some of the defendants to the unlawful assembly charge.

Lawyer Ron Kuby said the charges should have been dropped long ago and accused Brooklyn DA Hynes of vilifying the young people. He added, “If the police receive information that a funeral procession is going to be attacked, you don’t arrest the mourners. They would never treat white youth on the Upper East Side in such a fashion.”