I was on U-Stream that awful night. I heard the screams of Occupy protestors being dragged from their beds, saw unarmed and sleepy friends being man-handled by OPD officers who had placed duct tape over their badges. Saw children being tossed like rags. Watched Scott Olsen, unarmed, but standing tall and proud carrying only his Veterans for Peace flag. As I began tweeting for help, my heart was racing and I was so scared, so afraid someone was going to be killed....GL I can only speculate, but it seems that insofar as Oakland has admitted culpability in the Oscar Grant protest mass arrest case, they now have no leg to stand on in this case and should be eager to reach a similar settlement - even if it costs Oakland far more than $1,000,000 because of the larger number of arrestees. This is only the tip of the monetary iceberg. At least three lawsuits arising from the Occupy protests in 2011 - involving being shot in the head and nearly killed (Scott Olsen), being beaten until nearly dead (Keyvan Sebeghi) and being shot at by OPD with rubber bullets for no reason whatsoever (Scott Campbell) are also pending. Someday, the Oakland Police may be able to distinguish between peaceful protesters and 131 murderers. This decision does not harken that day. We are still waiting.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 01:27:52 +0000