Election-night arrests: Eastman musicians speak out

From City Newspaper: http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/articles/2008/11/POLICE-Elect...

Dave Goebel knows when it all went bad.

It was after the pick-up band had charmed the party faithful at the Hyatt and had the clubbers pouring out of the bars and dancing in the streets. The guys - most musicians at the Eastman School of Music - headed over to Abilene's on Liberty Pole Way.

"We got everybody really pumped in the bar. Then we watched the speech and did the national anthem again, and left," Goebel says. "And that's probably when we should've called it quits. But we didn't."

The speech Gobel mentioned is President-Elect Obama's victory speech at Grant Park in Chicago. The guys - friends and Obama supporters - made a spontaneous decision to take their euphoria out on to the streets after the race was called for Obama. They grabbed their instruments, including trombones, cornet, clarinet, guitars, snare drum, and cymbals and hit the pavement, playing a patriotic medley to a procession of about 100 people as they moved along Main and adjoining streets.

"It was one of the few times in recent memory that I've played music and there was just such an immediate good reaction that was just pouring out of people," says Stephen Lecik. "There was just so much good energy - an immediate connection between everybody."

Well, not everybody. The Rochester Police Department was decidedly unmoved. The guys said they tried to keep it down after being warned by police once, but the electricity of the moment was too much for them.

"It was my fault. I just started playing," Goebel says. "It was just overwhelming. We tried our best to be civil. We had 100 people following us; what are you going to do?"

Police arrested 10 members of the group - a few left before things boiled over - and confiscated their instruments.

"It's just surprising that would all happen - that 10 squad cards would have the time to come and check out a bunch of kids with instruments," says Amos Rosenstein.

Police spokesman Sgt. Mark Beaudrault says that police had gotten a complaint about the noise and the crowd.

"We have duty to uphold the law, especially when it pertains to public order and quality-of-life issues," he says. "You get 100 people in the street and everybody's in a celebratory mood; God knows what could have happened."

The friends, ranging in age from 18 to 24, were charged with unlawful assembly and kept in jail overnight. They were arraigned the following morning. All were represented by an attorney from Nixon Peabody - arranged by the University of Rochester. They were let off clean, provided they stay out of trouble for the next six months.

The jail experience - as uncomfortable as it was - is not what's eating at the group; it's the unlawful assembly charge. The law says that a person is guilty of unlawful assembly when gathering four or more people for the purpose of engaging in "tumultuous and violent conduct likely to cause public alarm."

"We would've been OK with a charge of disturbing the peace," Rosenstein says. "But the charge that they gave us was unlawful assembly - which implies violence."

Beaudrault says that the size of the group may have led to the more serious charge.

Unlawful assembly is a misdemeanor. If convicted, a person could serve up to a year in jail.

Scott Forsyth, an attorney with the Genesee Valley Civil Liberties Union, says that it sounds like the group was overcharged.

"Here we are on election eve, celebrating the election of our first black American president. These kids are part of the celebration and suddenly they're spending the night in the pokey," Forsyth says. "Probably for some of these kids, it's the first time they've every voted in a presidential election. It's not the message we want to communicate to our young folks."