Michele Cunningham: another victim of zealous, illegal policing and a broken justice system
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On July 28, 2013, Michele Cunningham (formerly Fineout) walked into the Public Safety Building's main lobby at 185 Exchange Boulevard around 5:30PM. She was upset that police had racially targeted, harassed and then arrested her friend Juan, while they were walking down East Main Street earlier in the day. Because of the unjust behavior of the police, she found herself at the Public Safety Building that evening attempting to bail him out.
Listen to Michele Cunningham explain what happened in an audio interview from August 20, 2013: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Michele_Cunningham_Story.mp3
In a description of what happened, Ms. Cunningham wrote, “I told the officer on duty that I wished to make bail for someone. She asked the name, I gave it and she told me how much it was. I handed officer Catherine Klinkman the money, to which she said that she couldn't make change for it.”
To this, Ms. Cunningham said, "You've got to be fucking kidding me," more to herself than anyone. “I assumed that she meant that the $5 extra that I handed her, she would have to keep. So, I handed her back the money after thinking for a minute, and said something like 'OK, keep it.' She then said she couldn't that I would have to get the exact change someplace else and come back.” Ms. Cunningham left the building.
About 30 minutes later, with the correct change, Ms. Cunningham got back in line in the lobby of the Public Safety Building. When she approached officer Klikman, she was asked for her license and the paperwork for the release of her friend was written up. Ms. Cunningham signed it. After that was done, officer Klinkman said "You know, I could arrest you for swearing. It's illegal to swear."
Ms. Cunningham asked, “How is it illegal to swear?"
Officer Klinkman responded by saying "It's illegal to swear in a public place."
A back and forth occurred between the two. Ms. Cunningham writes that she said to the officer, “'I wasn't swearing AT you, I was frustrated and used a swear word. Have you never done that before?' To which [the officer responded], 'No.' So I said 'You've never sworn in a public place before, not AT anyone, just used a swear word in public out of frustration?' She paused and said 'No.' To which I said, 'Come on, really?'”
Ms. Cunningham continues, “At this point, [the officer] said 'You know if you are going to argue with me about it, you can find out.' I said 'I am not arguing with you, I asked you a question.' At that point she said 'OK.' and came around to the outside of the booth where I was standing, put a can of pepper-spray up to my right eye and said 'Put your hands behind your back, you are under arrest.'”
Curiously, in the officer's report of what happened, obtained through a discovery motion filed by her public defender Kate Higgins, officer Klinkman states that Ms. Cunningham was “belligerent, argumentative, and loud” while she was the voice of calm reason, who gave Ms. Cunningham many chances to not get arrested, writing “...that most officers would have already arrested her for her behavior at this point and tried to calm her down.” Since when does arresting someone equal calming them down?
Ms. Cunningham continues, “I said 'I didn't do anything, why are you arresting me?' [The officer] repeated [that she was under arrest] again and said she was going to pepper-spray me. She did [it] with NO provocation. Then she tackled me to the ground, put her knee on my neck (which has been injured ever since), put all of her weight on top of me while I was laying on my right side and both of my hands were in front of me and I could not move. She then said 'Put your hands behind your back.' To which I said 'I can't move them you are sitting on me.' She then informed me that I was resisting arrest.”
Ms. Cunningham was charged with disorderly conduct. She suffered a completely closed and swollen right-eye for three days from the pepper-spray that hit her at point-blank range. It took about a week for the swelling to go down. Chemical burn lines could be seen on her face where the spray hit her.
According to officer Klinkman's report, “Sgt. [Donald T.] Manfredi was onscene [sic] following the incident and located video of it on the RPD cameras. He made a CD of the video and turned it into the property clerk's office as evidence.” However, no such video arrived with the discovery packet given to Ms. Cunningham by the public defender and the video of the incident had already been deleted when Rochester Indymedia made a Freedom of Information request to get it.
“What she did was an abuse of power and I am not ok with this happening to me nor any other human being,” wrote Ms. Cunningham. “It is an absurd abuse of power and I want to make this fact known.”
Court
Judge Charles F. Crimi Jr. was assigned to Ms. Cunningham's case. Judge Crimi can be short, curt, and most detestable when he wants to be, which seems to be almost every time I enter his courtroom.
I met Ms. Cunningham outside of court on September 12, 2013. She was ready to fight her charge to the end. When she was called before Judge Crimi at 2:33PM, the assistant district attorney offered a deal to her: a six-month ACD and eight hours of community service. Ms. Higgins, her public defender, asked for a motions hearing date and the judge offered October 7, 2013. Mind you, Judge Crimi was rather curt during this whole process.
Ms. Cunningham had a moment to speak with her lawyer as she stood before the judge and told her that her friends had been planning and paying for a very special trip for her to take from September 21 to October 11. An October 7 hearing was out of the question. She wouldn't even be in town. Ms. Higgins explained the circumstances to Judge Crimi and then requested a different court date.
“Criminal defendants are occasionally inconvenienced! October seventh it is!” the judge bellowed.
At the end of the session, around 2:50PM, Ms. Higgins requested that her client come before the court once more. Ms. Cunningham had been mulling things over and bitterly accepted the ACD and community service.
Michele Cunningham was and remains frustrated and outraged at a system that arrested her friend based on his race, pepper-sprayed her in the eye and tackled her to the ground charging her with crimes for muttering a word to herself, and then, in the end, forcing her to make the choice of swallowing the denial of her Constitutional rights or not go on a planned-over-three-months and paid-for trip—a gift to her from her close friends.
Enough is enough.
Additional Information: discovery documents in Michele Cunningham case | Enough Is Enough! | Facebook page for Enough Is Enough | Benny Warr announces federal civil rights lawsuit against police & city | United Christian Leadership Ministry make demands in the Brenda Hardaway case | Affronted by Affronti: Hardaway Bail Increased, Unexpectedly and Without Explanation, to $25K | Dwayne Ivery Severely Beaten by RPD in his Backyard | Rochester Police Officer Mario V. Masic: “I do what I wanna do. My name's Cowboy. This is my block.” | Sylvester Pritchett: Beat, Tased by RPD & Monroe County Probation Officers
