Police Harass Community Members Attending Meeting in Support of Emily Good

During a public meeting to discuss support for Emily Good and issues on police accountability, the RPD appeared at the Flying Squirrel Community Space to harass and intimidate attendees.

At approximately 5:30pm, four police cars were seen driving east on Troup St. and then turned right onto Clarissa St. The police cars parked a block down from the Flying Squirrel and got out of their cars holding clips boards and ticket books. They proceeded to walk down the line of parked cars on Clarissa St. checking registrations and inspections directly across from where the meeting was taking place. They then proceeded to pull out rulers to measure the distance from the curb to the tires of each car. They stated that they had received civilian complaints regarding cars being parked too far from the curb on Clarissa St.

Several people received tickets alleging they had parked more than 12 inches from the curb. The fine was marked as $35. Throughout the evening the police continued to circle the streets surrounding the Flying Squirrel.

Attendees of the meeting recognized the police intimidation tactics but weren't deterred from their meeting. Rochester Indymedia was on hand with video cameras to capture the scene. Look for the video soon.

Dawn Zuppelli was outraged: "I felt like this was a deliberate attack to disrupt our meeting. I felt confused and questioned why this law was suddenly being arbitrarily enforced."

Susan Galloway, another attendee, said, "I felt agitated, angry, and targeted. I felt like they wanted to teach us a lesson."

Andy Dillon said, "The word that kept flashing through my head was retaliation. It felt like the police were retaliating against us."

Katherine Denison said, "It was worse behavior than I expected. I was amazed at the strength of the brotherhood and how they rallied behind one officer in such a petty way."

Hubert Wilkerson said, "I wasn't surprised by the tactic of harassment. They feel a brotherhood toward Emily's arresting officer so now they feel like they have to retaliate against the community even though the arrest was illegal."