Spreading Truth Around

David Correia was arrested on Monday during the sit in at the Albuquerque mayor's office and charged with "battery on a police officer" -- a felony -- on the basis of a claim that he pushed the officer with his chest in an effort to interfere with his public duties.

This video shows the altercation as it transpired. Who is "pushing" whom?



Meant to add, but got distracted: The apparent incident for which David Correia has been charged with a felony is shown at the top of the video, though it is partially blocked by people in front of the camera. What can be seen is that the bearded man -- who is apparently some kind of mayoral non-uniformed security who has been involved in other altercations with other protesters -- grabs David who turns around and raises his hands, the bearded man pushes David and gets him off balance as David turns again with his hands up; the bearded man then grabs him forcefully around the torso and drags him into the "secure" area, where they are seen in the background in conversation. That conversation and the followup are seen in another video here.

This twit photo shows David with his hands in the air as the bearded "security" fellow is man-handling him:

ABQ Mayor's goon assaults David Correia; Correia is charged with felony battery on the so-called "officer".

Same Mayor's goon assaulting someone else...

Touchy-touchy!

Of course, the whole point of the felony charge of "battery" against David Correia is to shut him up one way or another. He has been barred, for example, from City Hall and is forbidden to speak with any of the 12 others who were arrested at the sit-in at the Mayor's office.

New Mexico Mercury has a run-down of some of the blizzard of fabrications, lies, and distortions that Power has launched with regard to this incident, and there is more at Photography Is Not a Crime.

Further, a UNM colleague of David's has written an open letter in his defense which was published with additional photos of the alleged "battery" at La Jicarita.

In addition, KOAT has set out to smear David -- and by extension to smear the families of those who have lost loved ones to police gunfire -- through innuendo like this. As if, somehow, the presence of children at a protest is a priori "endangerment." Well, just who is "endangering" whom?

David responded on twitter:

Educated guess @NancyLaflinKOAT: Rob Perry gave you video, told you to mention Child Protective Services. You did as told #APDProtest
— David Correia (@DavidCorreiaABQ) June 6, 2014

I don't know who the child is but I suspect it is one of Mary Jobe's, as their father was killed by APD in one of their many questionable uses of lethal force, and Mary was at the sit in. Note: the surveillance video featured by KOAT was taken outside the mayor's office, not where the sit in took place.

KOB managed to track down and pry a statement out of the ever-elusive ABQ mayor:

 

Berry said he was in New York City for a mayors' conference when he found out about the protest.

Had he been in his office, Berry said he would have talked to the group.
"I would have said, 'Listen. We're happy to talk you,'" Berry said. "'Let's do it in a productive and meaningful manner.'"

The mayor says he wants to move forward and focus on starting a dialogue with the protesters to keep City Hall from being disrupted again.

"We want people to know that we are listening. We do want to listen," he said. "A number of people that came up as protesters we have met. We've reached out to them. Others, we haven't had a chance yet, but we will."

Yah, right. Liar.

Nora Anaya -- who was one of those arrested at the sit-in and whose nephew was killed by APD in 1988 -- has been trying to speak to the mayor about APD for over a year, but he's blown her off.

Police arrested 13 protesters. One woman, Nora Anaya, chained herself to a display case outside of Berry's office.

At the time, Anaya told KOB she had been waiting a year to see Berry after she scheduled a meeting. Anaya's nephew was killed by APD, according to the ANSWER Coalition.

"It's not overly hard to get in to see me," Berry told KOB on Thursday. "I asked my staff how many folks that came in actually requested meetings. I think one or two of them had. And one lady had asked for a meeting a year ago and didn't get it. So we need to do better with that too."

Yah, "we" do. But will "we?" No, "we" won't. Ha. Ha. Suckers!

The cowardice shown by the city administration and the APD over this issue -- and not just this issue -- is sometimes breathtaking. Police abuse and murder, corruption, misconduct, and unaccountability has brought on the city international disrepute and shame. The failure of city officials to address the problems of APD misconduct responsibly -- or even to acknowledge the existence of a problem until forced to do so by DoJ -- boggles the mind and shocks the conscience. It's clear from their actions -- and inaction -- that not only do these people in positions of authority not care, they actually approve of the conduct of their  police force, and they are literally daring anyone, anyone at all, to do anything about it.

Many of those who have been protesting recently have been speaking out for years, going to city council meetings, attempting to communicate with the mayor, doing the "right thing" by seeking redress of grievance, and they've been blown off, ignored, disrespected, insulted, denounced and dismissed over and over and over again. The only thing that has gotten the attention of the city officials and APD is direct action and mass protest which triggered the release of the long-delayed DoJ report on APD's culture of violence and unconstitutional policing.

And now the same cowardly officials who have consistently acted out of contempt for the citizens they are supposed to be serving have set out to smear the protesters and disable their ability to gain further attention to their cause. It is as shameful a display of arrogance, ignorance and cowardice as I have ever seen from civic officials anywhere.

I can understand why they do it: they're frightened to death. Much of what has been revealed has the potentiality of criminal liability and consequences for many of the officials and officers involved. DoJ did not do a criminal investigation, but FBI has been called in to do an extensive field investigation of the killing of James Boyd, and there are many other potentials for the criminal liability of city and APD officials and officers going back many years. It's an inherently unstable and unsustainable situation for the city's officials, and they know it.

Their efforts to shut up the protesters and shut down the protests are bound to fail. Nevertheless, they will continue trying, continue to defy calls for reform, continue to misuse authority, and continue to engage in cowardly, corrupt practices.