From photoblogging to prison bologna sandwiches, Mike from Satan's Laundromat spends 30 hours in lockup after being arrested Friday night! Mike rode in the bike protest:
Rather than writing us summonses for the offenses we were charged with, which were violations (on par with a traffic ticket or an open container), not even misdemeanors, the cops decided to teach us a lesson by hauling us over to a bus depot-turned-holding cell where we got to sleep in cages on diesel-sludge-covered concrete. (Many people reported chemical burns from contact with the floor.) I got to spend 16 hours there, then ride a corrections bus downtown to Central Booking for the full handcuff/search/mugshot/prints treatment, in shackles all the way, and spent another 14 hours there while the cops, who were either intentionally stalling on Bloomberg's orders or staggeringly incompetent, took 14 more hours to write us all the same desk-appearance tickets they could have given out at the scene. There were still at least 50 people in there when I got out at 2:30 a.m. [Sunday] (and spent another hour waiting on line to get my keys, phone, camera, and pen from the property clerk).
Who knew that Bloomberg would be much the martial-law type as Giuliani? Anyway, Gothamist is glad you're out of the pen, Mike, but we would have helped raise money for your bail (lemonade stand outisde MSG), had the NLG not submitted the writ of habeus corpus. [Related: NYCLU on the bike protest arrests; NYPD's letter to Transportation Alternatives from early last week about "actions against future violators" (the letter does state call "Transportation Alternatives, a wonderful organization that has the same lawful desires as the Police Department" and note "I admire your board of officers and law abiding members and I look forward to having a continued warm and friendly relationship with you and I thank you for your assistance in this important matter." ]
Felix Salmon was also at the protest and writes about it; he was not arrested. callalillie has great photos (1, 2), as well as ones of the pro-choice rally yesterday. Photo from Satan's Laundromat
